


Meet My Baby

by abbyy123



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Age Changes, Alternate Universe - Chanyeol is a Dad, BaekYeol - Freeform, BoyxBoy, ChanBaek - Freeform, Comedy, Cute, Drama, Falling In Love, Fanfiction, Fluff, Love, M/M, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Slice of Life, kpop, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-23
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2019-01-04 12:12:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 37,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12168651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abbyy123/pseuds/abbyy123
Summary: Park Chanyeol, a twenty-seven year old single father who is working as a marketing manager for a big-time magazine, gets set up on a blind date with the twenty-five year old Byun Baekhyun. Knowing that it's hard to keep a date when you tell them you have a little baby girl at home, Chanyeol tries to keep it hidden until he knows that him and Baekhyun are serious with each other. Although there's one small problem about this whole arrangement; Baekhyun hates kids.





	1. 1

Baekhyun smiles in delight as he concentrates on the video that is playing on his phone. Hardly anyone has an appointment set up today so the office is very quiet. A perfect chance for him to kick back and slack off. Suddenly, he hears the sound of a door opening and his coworker's voice blatantly judging him from over his shoulder. 

"Another cat video, Baekhyun?"

"Go away, Kyungsoo." Baekhyun grumbles, giggling when the fluffy, white kitten rolls over to catch the laser dot shining on the carpet. "Cat videos are a blessing to the human race."

"Yeah, sure. I'm not going to deny that they're a blessing." Kyungsoo sighs, taking a seat on top of Baekhyun's desk and grabbing a pen. He starts fiddling with it. "But not twenty-four seven when you are a twenty-five year old man with absolutely no social life whatsoever. Alright now, put the phone down and make eye contact with me while I'm talking to you."

Baekhyun glares up at the bossy guy while setting his phone face down on his desk in an aggravated manner. "Are you my mother now? I'm an adult, if I want to waste my sweet ass time watching movies, tv shows, or funny animal videos than I very well can. Humans are annoying, I don't like talking to them."

"Then why are you a secretary?" Kyungsoo chuckles.

"Someone's gotta pay the bills around here and I live alone. That's why."

"What are you doing tomorrow after your shift?" 

"Same thing I always do on a Friday evening. Plop my happy ass on my living room couch, surrounded by unhealthy snacks that could potentially give me diabetes or a heart attack, and have a movie marathon. I watch movies and stuff my face unattractively, because hey why not? I'm by myself. Anyways, I watch movies and stuff my face until I fall asleep due to a food coma. Then on Saturday morning, I wake up confused with various food stains on my face and clothes before getting up, cleaning myself, then I go jogging so I won't get fat from all the food I eat." Baekhyun explains with a proud smirk on his face. 

Kyungsoo's jaw hangs open upon hearing the brunette's story. "Wow, what a sad life. I never knew how much of a loser you actually are. Do you even have friends other than me?"

"Nope, you're special." Baekhyun flashes him a gleeful grin. "I don't socialize very well, how many times do I have to tell you?"

"Have you ever had a partner?"

"A partner? Partner in crime?"

"No, idiot," Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. "S.O."

"Kyungsoo, I don't know what the fuck an S.O. is. Please speak like a normal person." 

"Significant other, you dummy!"

"Oh," Baekhyun shrugs. "I dated a guy my freshman year of high school."

"That's it?"

"Uh- " Baekhyun purses his lips. "Yes."

"You're twenty-five and you've only dated one person?! For how long?"

Just then the two are interrupted by a pretty woman dressed in a dark purple pantsuit with a bunch of newspapers in her hands, coming up to Baekhyun's desk. "Hi, I'm here to see the marketing team. There's been a mix-up with the new release. These are supposed to be brochures, not newspapers."

"I'll let them know you're coming their way." Baekhyun smiles politely before pressing a button to unlock the door. Once the lady walks through the heavy, beige door, Baekhyun is picking up the landline phone and punching in the number for the marketing department. "Jongdae, a woman is heading to your office. She claims that the release was messed up. Alright, bye."

As soon as he hangs up the phone, Kyungsoo is snapping in front of his face.

"How long?"

"How long what?" Baekhyun scowls, shoving Kyungsoo's snapping fingers out of his face.

"How long did you date that guy?" Kyungsoo pressures.

"I don't know," Baekhyun shrugs in boredom, glancing towards his phone. He's so tempted to pick it up but he knows Kyungsoo will get mad. "Maybe three weeks?"

"Three weeks?!" Kyungsoo gasps. "Did you do anything with him? Like kiss or?"

Baekhyun shrugs again, "We kissed like twice."

"You've never been in a real relationship and you're in your mid-twenties. What even?" 

"So? I'm not that worried about it." 

"Lucky for you," Kyungsoo ignores the brunette, crossing his arms with a smirk. "You have a date tomorrow evening." 

Now it's Baekhyun's turn to gasp. "Say what now?"

"Y'know my boyfriend Jongin, right? He works in the journalism department." 

"Yes. You only talk about him every second of everyday. You're setting me up on a date with your boyfriend?" 

"Absolutely not," Kyungsoo frowns. "He's mine. Anyways, Jongin's best friend, Oh Sehun, is supposedly good friends with the manager of the marketing department."

"And?" 

"Well apparently, Sehun told Jongin that the manager has been going through some tough times and wants to get into the dating world. Jongin asked me if I knew anyone that is available so I mentioned you."

"Hm," Baekhyun rolls his eyes. "Well thank you for considering me but I'm not going on any sort of date any time in the near future. I'm fine with being alone."

"But- "

"I said I don't want to."

"Baekhyun, listen. You are twenty-five years old and have probably never even been anywhere except work and your apartment. Live a little. Just go on the date and if you hate it then I promise to leave you alone, please?" Kyungsoo pouts.

"No way in hell."

"I hate to see you waste your youth."

"I'm not, I have a good life." Baekhyun smiles, finally picking up his phone and continuing to watch the cat video he was watching earlier before he got so rudely interrupted.

Kyungsoo snatches the phone and turns it off again. "Everything is already planned out."

Baekhyun sighs. "It's my life, why can't I choose if I want to date or not?"

"Oh, c'mon. It's just one date!" Kyungsoo groans. "Go for me? Please?"

Baekhyun bites his lip and stares at random things on his desk before huffing loudly. "How long do I have to be there?"

Kyungsoo squeals giddily and jumps off of the desk. "So you'll go?!" 

Baekhyun looks at the happy male in frustration and nods slowly. He really believes he's going to regret this decision.

-

Chanyeol sprints into the department with his long legs, crashing into a woman who is wearing a purple pantsuit with newspapers in her hold. Every single newspaper goes flying.

"Shi- I'm so sorry, miss." Chanyeol apologizes profusely, tossing his briefcase to the ground and kneeling to help pick them up.

She just grumbles something along the lines of 'son of a bitch' before bending down to join. Chanyeol scrambles around, frantically scooping up the newspapers into one pile and picking them up, not caring about crumpling them. He apologizes again before shoving the papers into the lady's hands and dashing off. He curses at himself and turns around, hurriedly bending down to grab his briefcase and then darting away. He's late. For the third time this week.

Barging into his office door, he almost dies of happiness when he sees Sehun sitting in one of the chairs with a hot coffee in his hand.

"Nari again?" Sehun asks, handing the winded man the white, paper cup. Chanyeol takes a deep breath and nods.

Sehun holds back his sound of pity at Chanyeol's appearance. Mismatched socks, a yellowish stain on his white dress shirt, his tie not tied all the way and loose around his neck, dark bags underneath his eyes, and his hair looks like it hasn't been brushed for days. "You look awful."

Chanyeol chucks his briefcase on the floor beside his desk before going to sit down in his desk chair while sipping on his hot beverage. He sighs once he's done drinking, setting the cup down and looking at Sehun's sympathy-filled face. "I don't know what to do. She wakes up every two hours, screaming bloody murder because she wants her bottle but when I give it to her, she doesn't drink it!"

"First of all, she's only how old?" 

"Two and a half months tomorrow." Chanyeol reaches up to attempt to smooth down his fluffy, raven locks. 

"So of course she is going to wake up a lot in the night to eat." Sehun gives an encouraging smile. "Also, babies are weird sometimes. Have you tried to do anything that would make her drink?"

"Like what?" Chanyeol asks without hesitation. "I need sleep, Sehun. I need my sleep!"

"Maybe- sing? Babies love music."

Chanyeol sighs. "That's a good idea, why didn't I think of that? God, I'm a horrible dad."

"No you're not!" Sehun exclaims. "I admire you! I mean- being a single father and a manager at a very well known magazine company? It's amazing that Nari is such a healthy baby. And you love her so much, that's what matters the most right?"

Chanyeol nods while taking a quick, deep breath. Then he yawns. "I'm so tired. She kept me up practically all night last night, then I overslept and missed my alarm. She spit up on me when I picked her up to put her in her car seat, hence this dried up creamy shit on my shirt, then the traffic was horrible on the way to drop her off at Minseok's place so I had to speed all the way here. I haven't even had time to breathe. Or eat!"

"I have good news for you though." Sehun smiles.

"Is it food? I'm starving." 

"No, but it will cheer you up a little bit." 

"Okay, what is it?"

"I got you a date!" Sehun proclaims excitedly.

"You got me a date?" Chanyeol's eyebrows knit together in confusion. 

"Yes! His name is Byun Baekhyun. He's a secretary here." Sehun informs, clasping his hands together as if this is the best thing in the world. "So whoever needs to babysit tomorrow evening, me or Minseok, either of us will because you're definitely going. I want to see you relax and have a good time for once. This past year has been really hard on you."

Chanyeol smiles. "A date, huh? Haven't been on one for awhile. You're the best, Sehun. I really mean it."

"I know," Sehun replies with a grin. "I'll text you the time and place later!"

Chanyeol laughs to himself in disbelief. He never thought he'd have time to go on a date ever again with his hands full from balancing work and taking care of Nari. He's excited but nervous at the same time. Is he even ready to date again?


	2. 2

Chanyeol paces back and forth anxiously in front of his closet, scanning the clothes while bouncing a crying Nari in his arms.

"Shh, chunky monkey." Chanyeol tries to soothe by calling her the nickname he gave her. She's a chunky little thing, and Chanyeol absolutely adores it.

He sighs in relief as her cries start to turn to soft whimpers. Now he can really focus on picking out a nice outfit for his date later. Baby Nari starts snoring softly and Chanyeol chuckles once he realizes that she's dead asleep. Tiptoeing over to his king-sized bed, he sets her down on his mattress so she can have an undisturbed rest.

Nari has only had one nap today and being thrown into a sudden parenthood, Chanyeol quickly learned that only one nap during the day equals a cranky baby. He stalks back over to his closet, sifting through every piece of clothing he owns. This is a date at a fine restaurant but the place is not a formal setting so he skims past his black, gray, and navy suit jackets. This restaurant is more on the elegant side so going full casual is definitely out of the question. He would look like a bum dressed in a regular shirt and blue jeans in a place like that.

The tall male takes a deep breath. This is harder than he thought it would be. He supposes he should dress business casual but he's color blind so that's going to be a trick. He needs Sehun for this. Just as he pulls out his phone to call his sassy assistant, his phone starts ringing. Chanyeol frantically answers, holding his breath and glancing towards Nari on his bed to make sure she's still asleep. He exhales in relief once he sees her laying peacefully still.

"Shit, Minseok," Chanyeol grumbles into the phone. "You almost woke Nari up and she's been fussy all day!"

"Hey to you too." Minseok retorts. "When d'ya want me to come?"

"Nari better have proper grammar when she starts speaking or god help me I will strangle you." Chanyeol huffs. He holds up his wrist to check the time on his watch, it's nearly five and his date is scheduled for six. "Be here no later than five forty-five."

"Gotcha," Minseok giggles. "You seem a little tense. You nervous?" he teases.

"Totally not." Chanyeol dismisses, then mumbles a bit abashedly, "I'm just struggling to find the proper outfit to wear."

"Oh yeah. You're color blind, aren't ya?"

"Yes, unfortunately."

"Well, how do you normally pick out your outfits?"

"I wear the same three suit combinations for work." Chanyeol explains. "I don't stray far from them because my grays are greens and my browns are reds and my purples are blues. Sehun helped a lot when buying my clothes and explained to me which shirt to wear with each suit. I memorized them."

"Then wear one of those." Minseok suggests.

"No, I can't wear a whole suit to an otherwise casual date. C'mon. I'd look like a rich bitch." Chanyeol rolls his eyes, secretly wishing Minseok could see it.

"But you are a rich bitch," Minseok laughs.

"Listen, I can't go around flaunting my wealth on a first date. It attracts the wrong kind of person. I'm twenty-seven now, I need to start looking for serious partners. Someone who will love me for me and not my money."

"Wow, that was deep." Minseok chuckles. "I applaud you though. After all that has happened to you, you're still pressing on. I'm happy that you have a date tonight and I'm more than glad to watch Nari while you're out."

"Oh stop with the sappy speech, you're just glad you're getting paid to watch my kid."

"Guilty as charged." Chanyeol can practically hear the smirk on Minseok's face.

"Okay, you little shit. I have to go. Be here- "

"No later than five forty-five, I got it. See ya!"

Chanyeol smiles a little. "Bye."

After they hang up, Chanyeol dials Sehun in an attempt to look at least half decent for his blind date tonight. Sehun is good with fashion so hopefully he'll look presentable and make a good first impression. He totally lied to Minseok, he's completely and entirely nervous for this.

-

Baekhyun takes a deep breath. His palms are sweating. How is he going to keep a conversation going? He doesn't know how to talk to people very well. Every passing second is a second closer to the scheduled blind date. He arrived at the restaurant early, not wanting to make a fool of himself by strolling in late. He did as Kyungsoo told him, got a booth in the far left corner of the open room. He assumes that Jongin's friend, Oh Sehun, told the manager to come to this booth too. Deciding to distract himself from his nerves, Baekhyun begins to glance around the restaurant.

It's very charming in here, Baekhyun notes. It's a small, quaint Italian restaurant that is quite known for the dating scene in this town. He now knows why. It is dimly lit in here, the only light being the stringed lights that are tangled up in grape vines hanging from the ceiling and the small, white candles on each table. The only word that comes to his mind while attempting to describe this place is romantic. It's so very romantic, the lighting, the soft music, just the whole ambiance screams romance and it scares Baekhyun. He wouldn't know how to act romantically even if it came up and smacked him in the face. Why did Kyungsoo put him in this kind of situation? Kyungsoo should know by now that he's socially awkward and doesn't like being around people. Baekhyun likes being alone.

He glances at the fancy, golden clock on the wall hanging above a pedestal that has a small statue on it. It's five fifty-six. The marketing manager should be here any minute now. Baekhyun really starts to panic. What if he embarrasses himself? What if the manager thinks he's weird? What if there is a bunch of awkward pauses because they both don't have anything in common? Or worse, what if the manager doesn't know how to make a conversation either? Baekhyun prays that the manager will lead the conversations because if he has to instigate them, then it's going to be a very long evening. Then again, should he really care? Maybe if he purposefully makes the dinner awkward, he won't have to go on a second date.

Out of the corner of Baekhyun's eye, he spots a tall model walking his way. Okay, the man probably isn't actually a model but he could totally pass for one. The man is very handsome. Baekhyun's brain starts screeching because the man keeps walking closer. Oh no. That's not the marketing manager is it?

"Hello, are you Byun Baekhyun?" The man asks politely with his deep voice as he approaches the table.

Baekhyun nods shyly and bows a little. "Hello."

The manager sits down in the booth across from Baekhyun with a contented smile. "My name is Park Chanyeol, manager of the marketing department."

"It's nice to meet you," Baekhyun squeaks out, his cheeks turning a pinkish color.

Baekhyun was expecting the manager to be well-kept because of his position in the firm but he really wasn't expecting the male to be so damn attractive.

"It's nice to meet you as well." Chanyeol says gently.

"I- um- I've been here for a little while so I ordered us waters." Baekhyun pipes up after more than a couple seconds of soaking in Chanyeol's distinct features. "I hope you don't mind."

The tall male offers a kind smile, "Not at all. Sorry to keep you waiting."

"N-No, you didn't! I just came early. You were right on time!" Baekhyun forces an awkward chuckle.

He knew he would make a fool of himself once he started talking. It was inevitable. Now he really wants to curl up on his couch and eat his life away, alone.

Chanyeol stares at the small male for a few moments before chuckling. Baekhyun thinks, oh great this date is over before it even started.

"You're cute."

Baekhyun really wasn't expecting _that_. His blush becomes more prominent and he looks down at the menu in front of him in embarrassment. "Well, thank you for thinking so."

"How old are you, Baekhyun?"

"Twenty-five."

"Twenty-five?"

Baekhyun gains enough courage to look up once his blushing cheeks have cooled down only to find Chanyeol's eyes have significantly widened. "Uh- yes?"

"I'm sorry, it's just- you look quite a bit younger than that," Chanyeol gives a light-hearted chuckle that causes Baekhyun to smile a little.

"I get that a lot." Baekhyun laughs softly. "What about you? How old are you?"

"I just turned twenty-seven a week ago."

"Wow, twenty-seven," Baekhyun smiles inwardly. For some reason, he likes the fact that Chanyeol is older than him.

"I heard that you are a secretary at the firm. For which departments?" Chanyeol takes a sip of his glass of water.

"The marketing department and the illustrations department."

"Hm, I'm the manager for the marketing department. I wonder why I've never met you before." Chanyeol's eyebrow raises.

Baekhyun shrugs a little. "Well, it could be because the marketing department is the biggest department in the building."

"Could be." Chanyeol nods in agreement, he then looks around the restaurant. "This place is nice. Have you ever been?"

"No," Baekhyun hums. "But it's pretty."

"Yes, it is." Chanyeol flashes another heart warming smile. "Shall we order?"

"Okay," Baekhyun smiles back.

Dinner goes smoothly, at least, Baekhyun thinks it does. He doesn't know a thing about socializing but he believes he's doing pretty okay at it. He's learned that Chanyeol is pretty funny and random. Baekhyun finds it really adorable. Towards the end of their meal, Chanyeol motions the waitress over and orders two glasses of red wine. Baekhyun mentally thanks him, the atmosphere just seems so fitting for a glass of wine.

"Oh, I didn't even ask," Chanyeol frowns. "I'm sorry. I hope you like red wine."

"Don't apologize." Baekhyun nods fervently. "I do, thank you."

Chanyeol grins. "That's good then."

After the waitress places the glasses in front of them, she stands up straight with a polite smile. "Anything else for you two tonight?"

Chanyeol is about to say no but Baekhyun beats him to it, saying the opposite. "Yes, actually, can I get some cheesecake for dessert?" he then turns to the tall male. "Do you want any dessert?"

Chanyeol's heart softens at Baekhyun's expression, the younger must really enjoy cheesecake. "I'll have some cheesecake as well, please," he tells the waitress.

"Okay, I'll bring that right out for you!" She scurries off with their empty plates.

"Cheesecake and wine, what a perfect combination." Baekhyun says quietly, his eyes sparkling.

Chanyeol's heart skips a beat at the smaller's excitement for something as simple as food. From this evening, he's gathered that Baekhyun is not a selfish person. He's very grateful and appreciates the small things in life. Earlier, while they were eating, Baekhyun noticed that his napkin set accidentally came with two napkins and he was happy about it. It was undeniably the cutest thing that Chanyeol has experienced on a date.

Typically, the dates that he gets set up on are with people who are greedy and take advantage of his money. He can already tell that Baekhyun isn't like those people. It's refreshing. Baekhyun seems quirky, and Chanyeol likes it. Likes it so much that he wants to get to know the younger better. It's surprising to him. Usually, he dreads second or third dates, but he's really curious about the male sitting across from him.

"Baekhyun," he pipes up after a minute of spacing out in his own thoughts.

Baekhyun looks up from his wine glass, getting lost in Chanyeol's dark brown eyes. Chanyeol's eyes are really pretty. Baekhyun likes his ears too, they're a little big but it's cute. He would've never guessed that Chanyeol was twenty-seven. "Yes?"

"I really have enjoyed this evening," Chanyeol starts, suddenly becoming shy. What if Baekhyun rejects him? "I'd like to get to know you better."

Baekhyun doesn't know why but he can't help but smile. He isn't going to deny that Chanyeol is indeed charming. He knows that he is still pissed off at Kyungsoo for making him come here, but this evening wasn't so bad. In fact, it was way nicer than he thought it would turn out to be. Chanyeol is intriguing. Plus, Kyungsoo is right. He's twenty-five and has never been in a real relationship. Maybe, just maybe, this would turn into something awesome for the two. Baekhyun gets a fluttery feeling in his stomach at the thought, so he smiles a little wider.

"I'd like to get to know you better too." Baekhyun replies.

"So," Chanyeol trails off, smiling because Baekhyun's rectangular shaped smile is contagious. "You will go on another date with me?"

"Yes, it sounds lovely." Baekhyun doesn't know what's happening. Why is Chanyeol making his whole brain change the way he thought before coming on this date? "Let's exchange numbers."

They exchange phone numbers and after they finish their cheesecake, Chanyeol pays the bill. Baekhyun is hesitant at first but reluctantly agrees, making Chanyeol happy.

And once the two go their separate ways, they can't get each other off their minds.


	3. 3

Sehun saunters into Chanyeol's office, almost dropping the coffees in his hands in shock.

"Geez, you scared me! You're usually not here this early!" The assistant exclaims at the male sitting behind the desk.

"It's eleven." Chanyeol's eyes narrow as he looks up from the small letter he is writing.

Sehun chuckles. "Exactly. Here's your coffee."

"Thank you." Chanyeol continues writing as Sehun sets the cup down in front of him.

"What are you doing?" Sehun's eyebrows lift curiously at the sight of a note that Chanyeol is writing.

Chanyeol opens his mouth to answer but is interrupted by someone knocking on the door. Sehun tells the person to come in, and in comes a flustered Kim Junmyeon. He works as an assistant for Kim Jongdae, who is one of the department's few analysts. Sehun furrows his eyebrows at the sight of Junmyeon with a huge vase of various colored tulips in his hands.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Park. I searched in all the downtown flower shops but they either didn't sell a bouquet of different colored roses or they were all sold out. I'm sorry." Junmyeon rambles. "But I got a vase of these tulips, I think they're pretty!"

Chanyeol wants to frown but if the man looked everywhere, there's no use in being upset. "Thank you for your work, Junmyeon," he flashes a small grin.

Junmyeon sighs in relief that Chanyeol isn't angry and sets the bouquet on the desk right in front of him. "Then, I'll be on my way. Have a good day, you two!"

"Wait, I need to pay you back for these." Chanyeol interrupts.

"Nonsense. They weren't that expensive, don't worry about it."

Chanyeol gives him a quizzical expression. "I know you're well off but I still need to pay for the flowers, they're for someone."

"Okay, if you insist." Junmyeon then tells Chanyeol the price of the flowers and the taller pays him.

"Thank you, Junmyeon." Chanyeol bids him a goodbye.

Junmyeon smiles before walking out of the office. As soon as the door shuts behind him, Sehun is rushing to sit in one of the chairs that are in front of Chanyeol's desk, smirking knowingly.

"These are for Baekhyun, right?" Sehun smiles gleefully. "Then I take it the date went well? You never pursue blind dates."

Chanyeol takes the note, folds it, then tucks it into the bouquet with a proud smile on his face. "He's very cute and different from most the dates that I've been set up on."

"Ooh," Sehun laughs. "I did good this time! What if he's the one?"

"I sure hope so," Chanyeol replies, staring at the flowers.

"It's only been one date and you look so whipped. What happened to you?" Sehun teases.

"I don't know," Chanyeol chuckles.

"Wait," Sehun pauses and takes a fearful glance to the flowers then back to the manager. "You did tell him that you have a kid, right?"

Chanyeol's smile falters. "No."

"Park Chanyeol! Some guys don't like dating someone who has a baby! You should've told him!" Sehun exclaims.

"Do you blame me, Sehun?" Chanyeol sighs. "That's exactly why I didn't tell him. I want to see if things will become serious between us before I go mentioning that I have Nari."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Yes it does."

Sehun frowns. "How?"

"If we start a serious relationship, and he really likes me, then maybe he'll get over the fact that I'm a single father. He's sweet. I didn't want it to be over before it even started!"

Sehun heaves a deep sigh before pursing his lips. "I think you should tell him soon."

Chanyeol takes another quick gaze at the flowers. "I just want to see if something is there."

-

Baekhyun has turned quite bitter about this whole dating thing. Chanyeol hasn't texted or called even once since their departure from each other on Friday night. Baekhyun doesn't know whether to be disappointed or joyful at the thought that maybe the older is just not interested.

"What's got your panties in a twist? You've been more angry today than you usually are." Kyungsoo muses, leaning his elbows on Baekhyun's desk.

"Piss off, Kyungsoo. It's all your fault." Baekhyun seethes. He pushes his nose further into his work, hoping that Kyungsoo will just leave him alone and not ask about the date Friday.

"Did the date go that badly?" Kyungsoo asks, a frown etching upon his lips.

Looks like Baekhyun's hopes are crushed. He sighs and glares at Kyungsoo. "Fuck you for making me go on that stupid date with that stupid guy that I can't get out of my stupid brain because he was stupid and he hasn't even called my stupid phone this whole stupid weekend."

"Hm," Kyungsoo hums. "I'm sorry your date was so stupid."

Baekhyun rolls his eyes, then throws down his pen and crosses his arms. "It actually wasn't that stupid," he admits, his voice a little softer.

"Oh?" Kyungsoo smiles.

"Whatever." Baekhyun clears his throat, picking up his pen and continuing to write phone numbers down from the computer screen. "We have work to do."

"I don't, I'm on break." Kyungsoo reminds him. "You said he hasn't texted or called?"

"Yes," Baekhyun shyly plays with the hem of his shirt. He looks up quickly when Kyungsoo lets out a laugh. "Hey, what's so funny?"

"You're so adorable and innocent." Kyungsoo teases. "That's normal."

"It's normal?" Baekhyun frowns. "Why?"

"I don't know, it's just how dating works." Kyungsoo shrugs. "You usually don't start texting or calling for a couple days."

Baekhyun nods, then stops. "Whatever, it's not like I'm interested anyways."

Kyungsoo scoffs. "You wouldn't be so bothered by it if you weren't interested."

"I wasn't bothered by it!"

"Baekhyun, you don't have to be ashamed for wanting to date someone. You're in your mid-twenties." Kyungsoo says honestly.

Baekhyun silently stares at the male in front of him, biting his bottom lip. He then frowns. "I'm sorry,"

"For what?"

"For being so difficult. I'm just not used to this is all." Baekhyun sighs and rests his head on his hand.

"I know," Kyungsoo reaches out and pats Baekhyun's hair. "It's okay," he pauses. "But I want to know details! How was it? Is he cute? Is he sweet? Does he love cat videos as much as you do?"

Baekhyun laughs at Kyungsoo's enthusiasm. His cheeks warm up at the thought of his date. "You should've seen him, he really looks like a model. His eyes are gorgeous and his ears stick out so adorably, and I love his comma styled hair."

"Really?" Kyungsoo smiles. "I'm happy but looks aren't everything. He better not be a jerk."

"He wasn't," Baekhyun smiles. "He was very well-mannered and I really liked his company. He tells funny jokes too."

Kyungsoo's heart swells at the sight of Baekhyun's eyes, they're basically sparkling. He's glad that Baekhyun is finally meeting someone and he hopes that it will turn into a long-term thing. "That's awesome, I'm so happy for you."

"I know I was a pain in the ass," Baekhyun chuckles nervously, "but thank you for setting me up with him. I didn't think I'd like it because I was so nervous. I'm anti-social but I ended up really enjoying it."

"Aww," Kyungsoo smirks at Baekhyun's blushing face. "You're already head over heels!"

"No! I'm not!" Baekhyun exclaims loudly, earning weird looks from the people waiting to go in meetings. He clears his throat and looks at them apologetically. "I'm not," he says softer.

"I'm just messing with you, chill." Kyungsoo snickers.

"I hope he'll contact me soon." Baekhyun sighs.

"Don't worry too much. If he's interested he definitely will! You're cute, who could pass up this opportunity?"

"Oh stop it," Baekhyun hides his face with his hands.

"I gotta go back to work, let me know if anything happens!" Kyungsoo smiles.

"Okay, bye," Baekhyun watches as the short guy walks away. The brunette reluctantly goes back to his work too.

After awhile of working, one of the beige doors from the marketing department open and out steps a man holding a vase of tulips. Baekhyun smiles politely at the man but isn't expecting him to walk up.

"Hello, what can I do for you?" Baekhyun asks, highly confused at the man setting the flowers down.

"Byun Baekhyun?"

"Yes, that's me."

"These are for you." The man smiles before starting to walk back into the department. "Have a nice day."

"Wait- for me? Are you sure there wasn't a mix-up?" Baekhyun asks in shock.

"Oh no, it's not a mix-up. Read the note." The man smiles again.

"Um, okay. Thank you." Baekhyun nods slowly and unlocks the door for him so he can get back in, the male disappearing within seconds. His eyes curiously gaze over the bouquet, spotting a small piece of pink, folded paper.

Baekhyun nervously takes the paper out and unfolds it. This is weird. He's touched at the gesture of someone getting him flowers but no one has ever before so it's strange to him.

_Hope you're having a good day! The weather is awfully nice to be stuck inside this building for hours. I want to see you, meet me for lunch? I'll be sitting at a picnic table by the lake behind the firm at one o'clock sharp!_

_\- Chanyeol  
p.s I hope you like tulips :)_

Baekhyun finds himself smiling brightly before he can stop himself from doing so. Is this how being interested in someone makes your heart feel? He takes a deep breath before his heart explodes in his ribcage. He sets the note down on his desk before leaning forward and smelling one of the yellow tulips. Tulips are his absolute favorite, how did Chanyeol know? Maybe Kyungsoo told Jongin.

Suddenly realizing what Chanyeol said on the note, Baekhyun checks the time. Twelve fifty-two. He decides to just pack up and head out there now.

Once he reaches the picnic tables outside, a cool breeze wraps around his small body and he shudders a little. He should've brought a jacket. Chanyeol spots Baekhyun and stands up immediately, walking over to the shorter.

Baekhyun's eyes widen when he's pulled into a hug. Hell, he hasn't even hugged Kyungsoo but here he is, in the arms of a guy he's known for just a few days. Although, he's not denying that the smell of Chanyeol's cologne is making his heart rate pick up. He's never known how nice it is to be embraced by a tall guy, it's somehow different than if Chanyeol was the same height as him. Noticing that Baekhyun hasn't hugged back, Chanyeol lets go.

"I'm sorry, I've been told before that I'm too clingy." Chanyeol apologizes sheepishly.

"N-No, it's okay," Baekhyun smiles a bit. "I was just a little surprised."

Chanyeol smiles back and leads the smaller to the table he was sitting at. Instead of sitting across from Baekhyun like the younger was expecting, Chanyeol sits right next to him. Baekhyun really isn't sure how he's going to survive if his heart won't stop beating so rapidly.

"I ordered Chinese food for lunch, it's quick." Chanyeol breaks the silence.

Baekhyun nods happily. Unhealthy foods are his number one weakness. "Thank you for the flowers by the way," he grins shyly.

"Oh, it's no problem! Did you like them?" Chanyeol beams.

Baekhyun shakes his head and Chanyeol's smile dissipates for a second. "I knew I should've sent roses.."

Baekhyun giggles. "I didn't like them, I loved them. Tulips are my favorite! How'd you know? Are you a stalker?"

Chanyeol sighs in relief. "Geez, you scared me! I was actually going to have one of the assistants pick up a bouquet of multi-colored roses but he couldn't find any so he got me tulips instead. Sounds like fate to me."

"So you aren't a stalker then?" Baekhyun laughs.

"Of course I'm not!"

"Well there has to be something." Baekhyun's face suddenly becomes serious.

"What do you mean?"

"No human can be this perfect, you have to have some type of flaw." Baekhyun says. His eyes widen when he realizes what he just said. "I-I mean- uh- "

Chanyeol laughs in response and ruffles Baekhyun's hair affectionately. "You think I'm perfect?"

"M-Maybe." Baekhyun mumbles, avoiding eye contact.

"Well thank you." Chanyeol grins. Chanyeol secretly wants to squeeze the life out of the younger because he's just so adorable. "How was your weekend?"

"Pretty dull," Baekhyun refrains from accidentally mentioning that he waited for Chanyeol to text or call him all weekend.

"Really? Mine was busy."

"You're a manager though, I'm just a measly secretary. My position has no match on yours." Baekhyun sighs.

"That's not true! Secretaries are the strong foundations that lead companies to success!" Chanyeol exclaims determinedly.

Baekhyun laughs. "It's sweet of you to say that but I'm nothing special to the firm. I'm not bothered about it, don't worry!"

Chanyeol huffs. "Well if you weren't a secretary for this firm then how would we have met? I consider you being a secretary very important in that regard."

Boy, does Chanyeol know how to make Baekhyun flustered. "I-I guess so."

"Hey! Food's here!"

Chanyeol turns his head and his eyes almost pop out of his skull. What in the hell is he doing here?! Minseok strolls up to the picnic table, Nari in one arm and a bag of food in the other. A bad feeling accumulates in the pit of his stomach.

"Minseok? What are you doing here?" Chanyeol almost grits out, forcing a tight smile.

"I came to visit you but all I found was Sehun. He had a sudden errand to run so he asked if I could just deliver this food to you guys instead." Minseok smiles, setting down the food then sitting across from Baekhyun and Chanyeol with Nari in his lap.

Chanyeol gulps and stares at the older guy.

Minseok turns to Baekhyun. "Hello, I'm Kim Minseok! Chanyeol's best friend since college!"

"It's nice to meet you," Baekhyun replies shyly, his head lowered a bit. "I'm Byun Baekhyun."

"I can't stay for long but I wanted to meet you," Minseok flashes a charming smile.

Baekhyun returns with a small smile and a nod.

"Haha, it was nice of you to give us our food. Shouldn't you be going now?" Chanyeol glares at him when Baekhyun isn't looking.

"I will in a minute," Minseok turns back to Baekhyun. "How old are you, Baekhyun?"

"I-I'm twenty-five."

"Oh, you look so young. Can you guess how old I am?"

"Twenty-two?" Baekhyun eyes his face up and down.

"Nope! I'm twenty-eight!"

Baekhyun blinks a couple times. "Wow, then is she yours?"

Chanyeol sucks in a sharp breath.

"Who?"

"The baby," Baekhyun chuckles a little.

"Oh, god no. I'm just babysitting." Minseok answers simply, earning a very relieved look from Chanyeol.

Baekhyun nods and stands up, grabbing the bag of food and starting to open it. He can't help it, the smell is taunting him. He loves food. While he is taking everything out of the brown, paper bag, Minseok mouths to Chanyeol a 'Sehun told me' in explanation.

Chanyeol makes a mental note to thank Sehun later as Minseok stands up. "Well, I better get going. It was nice to meet you."

"You too," Baekhyun smiles politely.

As the older is leaving, Chanyeol notices Baekhyun staring at him walking away.

"Isn't she cute?" Chanyeol asks, nonchalantly trying to find out Baekhyun's feelings about babies.

Baekhyun just nods curtly and starts to open a container of rice. "Thank you for the food."

"Not a problem." Chanyeol starts to open a container of noodles. "Not a big fan of babies?" he asks, trying not to sound too pushy.

Baekhyun hesitates for a second before answering, "Is it bad to say that I'm not? I mean- they're cute and all but I'm not quite fond of them. That sounds horrible, I'm sorry."

Chanyeol can't help but to feel a bit discouraged after hearing that but he tells himself not to give up. Besides, Baekhyun didn't straight up say he hated kids. "It's okay." Just then, Baekhyun shivers. Chanyeol notices this and smiles a little. "Cold?"

"A little," Baekhyun replies softly. "But it's nice out here. Thank you for inviting me to lunch."

"It's my pleasure, I wanted to see you again." Chanyeol grins. He silently takes off his suit jacket and drapes it over Baekhyun's shoulders.

"Chanyeol, you didn't have t- " Baekhyun starts to take the jacket off but Chanyeol fixes it back onto his shoulder.

"Yes I did, you're cold. It'll make me happy if you keep it on."

Baekhyun blushes a little. What kind of cheesy romance movie is this? He's seen enough movies to know the infamous jacket scene. He smiles to himself. He's always kind of wondered in the back of his brain how it would feel to actually be in love. Will he fall in love with Chanyeol? Who knows. "Okay."

"Just try not to get food on it, alright? I need to wear it for the rest of the day." Chanyeol teases slightly, bumping shoulders with the brunette.

Baekhyun chuckles. "I'll try my hardest."

Throughout their meal, they don't talk much. The two take secret glances at each other instead, both enjoying the other's presence and wondering where this whole thing will lead to. Once they're finished eating, Baekhyun reaches for a fortune cookie and Chanyeol reaches for one too. They bump hands and Baekhyun almost laughs. Another romance movie scenario.

"I'm curious as to what mine will say." Chanyeol smiles giddily, pulling his cookie out and breaking it. He reads his fortune aloud. "The real kindness comes from within you. Wow," he crumples it up and tosses it onto his empty container of food. "That was a silly one. What does yours say?"

"Your road to glory will be rocky, but fulfilling." Baekhyun reads.

"Fortune cookies are so cheesy." Chanyeol chuckles. "But it makes them fun."

"Y-Yeah, they are." Baekhyun doesn't know why but he feels like his fortune isn't a coincidence. It's strange.

"I'll go throw the trash away, be right back." Chanyeol puts their empty food containers into the paper bag and stands up, walking to a nearby garbage can.

While he's gone, Baekhyun tucks the little piece of paper that holds his fortune into his pant pocket. For some reason, he doesn't want to get rid of it. The words replay in his brain. Your road to glory will be rocky, but fulfilling. What does it mean?


	4. 4

Black sling wrapped around his torso in every which way, the fabric holding his tiny baby against his chest, Chanyeol bounces his body up and down while stumbling to make a bottle. It's five in the morning and Nari won't stop crying because she's hungry, so he's trying his best to calm her by bouncing on his heels.

"It's okay, chunky monkey, I just need to wait a minute until the water cools down." Chanyeol sighs, glancing down to his chest at her little face; eyes closed with tiny wails spilling out from her toothless mouth. "You're going to have to bear with me, Nari. I'm still getting used to this whole dad thing. I don't even know how to warm up a bottle properly. Forgive me?"

Yet Nari still cries.

"Please stop crying," Chanyeol pleads, bouncing on his heels a little faster while adjusting the sling. "It's only an hour after I usually feed you and you're crying as if I'm starving you."

The tall manager only gets more and more stressed out the louder she shrieks. He never knew how loud a two month old baby could actually be until Nari came along. Maybe she's not that loud, maybe it's just because the kitchen was silent before she started crying. Once the water in the baby bottle is cooled off enough, he sighs in relief. Hopefully she'll stop crying when he feeds her. He tries to hurry and scoop the formula into the bottle because he hates hearing his baby crying so pitifully like this, but somehow he ends up knocking the container of powder off of the counter and the whole thing spills out onto the hardwood floor.

"Fuck," he groans in agony, then quickly covers his mouth with wide eyes. "Nari, don't repeat that word."

Chanyeol stares down at the white powder that is laying peacefully on the floor, wondering what he did wrong in his life to deserve this. Nari's cries aren't showing any signs of slowing down soon so he just resumes bouncing her, trying desperately to think of a solution.

"If you don't stop crying, I'm going to start crying too." Chanyeol whines helplessly, pacing around the kitchen. "Is that what you want? For me to start crying? I know you're hungry but please stop crying, Nari."

He gasps all of a sudden as he remembers the extra containers of formula he bought that are sitting in Nari's diaper bag. The tall male practically sprints into his room, bending down on his knees and digging through the black and white striped diaper bag that is on the floor at the end of his bed. He searches and searches, pulling diapers, pacifiers, clothing, and bottles out frantically, all the while Nari is still wailing against his chest. No luck. He could've sworn that he had extra formula. He almost punches himself when he remembers that he had taken them to Minseok's house the other day since Minseok is Nari's resident babysitter.

"I guess we're going to have to go on a little road trip, chunky monkey." Chanyeol frowns. "I'll have to clean up the kitchen later."

By the time he gets out to his car, takes Nari out of the sling and puts her into her car seat, then starts the vehicle, Nari has successfully cried herself to sleep. He heaves a huge sigh and rests his forehead on the steering wheel for a minute. Parenting is hard. If only he could have a little help now and then. Minseok is the best he's got and even then the older doesn't really know much about babies.

He shakes his thoughts away and buckles his seatbelt, proceeding to put the car in reverse and start driving to the nearest supermarket. Once he arrives, he finally realizes the state of his attire and he laughs to himself quietly. It's almost six on a Sunday morning and here he is, about to go into a store with a baby strapped to his torso dressed in Star Wars pajama pants and a worn out tshirt. Not to mention the adidas sliders he has chosen for footwear. This is interesting.

Walking into the supermarket with a sleeping Nari wrapped in the sling, he maneuvers his way past all the tired eyes questioning him. He doesn't blame them, he'd find a tall man in his pajamas walking around the store so early in the morning with a baby sling around his torso amusing too. Chanyeol reaches the section of infant bottle formulas and finds the brand that he uses; the most recommended and the most expensive one on the shelf. Only the best for his chunky monkey. He starts piling the containers into a plastic basket he picked up when he entered the store. He's getting a lot this time to make sure nothing like this happens ever again. Nari's almost two hours late on her usual four o'clock feeding time because of his clumsiness.

"Oh, she's adorable." A woman coos from beside them.

Chanyeol smiles kindly, "Thank you, miss."

"It looks like she has your ears," the woman continues, gazing warmly at the little bundle who has her head laying against her dad's chest.

Chanyeol chuckles and finishes putting another box into his basket, not even realizing that he took every last one. "I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not," he jokes.

She laughs too. "Seems like you're running quite the errand there. Is her mommy sleeping at home?"

Chanyeol clears his throat a little and shuffles his feet. "Um- no," he pauses, wracking his brain to try to think of how to word this without completely spoiling the atmosphere. "Her mother passed away a couple days after she was born."

The lady gasps, "I'm so sorry, I didn't know. I'm really sorry."

"It's alright," Chanyeol gives her a reassuring smile. "I should be the one to apologize for killing the mood. It was nice to meet you though, I should get going now."

And without waiting for the woman's response, he turns on his heels and walks away. He quickly goes up to the cash register, a heavy feeling in his gut. Once he's paid for all the boxes, he hurries out to his jet black jeep. Chanyeol takes deep breaths as he tosses the plastic bag into the passenger seat, then proceeds to put Nari into her car seat in the back. As he's buckling her in, a tear cascades down his cheek but he wipes it away before it drips off of his chin. He sniffles and leans forward to kiss his baby's forehead, then straightens up and closes the car door.

Chanyeol leans his back against the jeep and allows another couple tears to fall because he's reminded, yet again, that his precious Nari will never know what her mother's embrace feels like.

-

Baekhyun stares at his phone that is laying on his coffee table, bent forward with his elbows on his knees.

"Should I call him?" he whispers to himself, his eyes narrowing on the cellular device.

Taking a deep breath, he shakes his head multiple times and stands up. Deciding to just make a cup of coffee instead, he heads for his kitchen. On his way, however, he turns and stares uneasily at his phone again.

"C'mon, Byun Baekhyun. Just call him." he whispers to himself for the second time.

It's only ten in the morning, Chanyeol is probably busy doing work or something. With this thought, he sighs and turns back around, then disappears into the kitchen. He makes his cup of coffee and just as he's mixing the creamer in, he hears his phone ding from the living room.

Baekhyun sets the spoon he was mixing the coffee with onto the counter, picks up the mug, and heads back out to the living room. Once he reaches the couch, he plops down and takes a sip of his hot beverage before setting the mug down onto a drink coaster. He picks up his phone and sees that he has a message from his boss, Zhang Yixing.

The small male almost screeches in excitement at the text. Apparently, he doesn't need to go in to work tomorrow. He has the whole day off. He smiles brightly and hurriedly texts back a thank you before he scrolls through his contacts and finds Chanyeol's name. For some reason, the tall male is the first person he wants to tell this good news. He completely disregards his hesitance earlier about calling Chanyeol and immediately clicks the phone icon.

"Hello?"

"Good news! I got a paid day off tomorrow!" Baekhyun cheers.

The small brunette hears Chanyeol's deep chuckle from the other end. "That's great, Baekhyun. I wish I had the day off tomorrow."

"You don't?" Baekhyun frowns, "Why not?"

"Well, I'm a manager. Typically, we managers don't get days off." Chanyeol sniffles as if he's crying. "It's a tragedy actually."

"D-Don't cry! I'm sorry I bragged about my day off!" Baekhyun panics. God, he knew he was going to mess something up sooner or later.

Then, Chanyeol laughs loudly, "I'm not crying, silly! My goodness, you're so cute and gullible."

Baekhyun's cheeks turn pink and he becomes speechless for a second, then his inner mischievousness kicks in. He whimpers and sniffles. "That was so mean, I can't believe you scared me like that."

He hears a displeasured noise coming from Chanyeol and he smirks, continuing to fake cry.

"I-I'm sorry, Baekhyun. I thought it'd be funny. Forgive me?" Chanyeol stumbles.

Baekhyun, in turn, starts laughing. "Gotcha! Now who's the gullible one?"

"Man, I should've seen that one coming." Chanyeol groans, joining Baekhyun's laughter.

After a few seconds, Baekhyun takes a deep breath. "Um- actually- Chanyeol. That wasn't the only reason I called."

"Oh?"

"W-Would you want to maybe meet for brunch? In like an hour or so?" Baekhyun stutters. He curses at himself for being so nervous.

"Hmm."

Baekhyun sucks in a quiet, sharp breath at Chanyeol's response.

"Well, after that stunt I should probably say no but who could resist you?" Chanyeol answers teasingly.

Baekhyun smiles and sighs in relief. "So that's a yes?"

"It's a definite yes. Text me the place and I'll see you there!"

"Okay, I'll see you! Bye bye!" Baekhyun ends the call with such a huge grin.

An hour and a half later, Baekhyun is sitting across from his handsome date at a small cafe near his house. It's only about eight minutes from his apartment building so he decided to walk.

Baekhyun takes a hefty bite of his chocolate chip pancakes with a pleased smile adorning his face, whip cream staining his upper lip. Chanyeol chuckles at the sight, pulling out his phone.

"Stay right there and don't move," he orders, frightening Baekhyun so the smaller freezes in place. Chanyeol snaps a picture of his whipped cream covered face.

Baekhyun's eyes widen once he realizes, and he frantically reaches for his napkin but halts when he feels Chanyeol's thumb run across his lips instead. He looks up just in time to see Chanyeol licking the sugary residue off of his thumb and smiling. "Sweet," is all that the tall male says.

Baekhyun almost splutters, his cheeks flushing and his eyes instantly averting contact. He invited Chanyeol to brunch, but he wasn't expecting the older to nearly give him a heart attack. Wasn't that an indirect kiss? He's not mistaken, right? That was an indirect kiss.

"Baekhyun?"

The said male is pulled back down to Earth and he glances up, "Hm? Sorry."

Chanyeol chuckles again, Baekhyun is just plain adorable. "I asked if you'd like to try mine."

At the mention of food, Baekhyun's brain settles and he nods fervently, eyeing Chanyeol's delicious looking apple-cinnamon pancakes. "Yes, please."

"You really like food, don't you?" Chanyeol asks gently, smiling warmly as Baekhyun reaches over to take a big bite of his food.

"I love it, it's my favorite thing next to cat videos." Baekhyun admits, his mouth stuffed full with pancakes. The smaller smiles brightly towards Chanyeol. "These pancakes are so good!"

Chanyeol laughs at the sight of Baekhyun talking with his mouth full. If this was a normal date for him, the other person would be really cautious of appearance but Baekhyun is too consumed in the taste of the pancakes to care. Usually, Chanyeol would probably find it gross that his date is talking with their mouth full but oddly, he finds it endearing in a way. "Food and cat videos, huh? You amaze me more and more each day, Baek."

Baekhyun's heart flutters at the sudden nickname and he smiles even wider, finally swallowing his mouthful. "So what do you like to do in your free time?"

"I really like watching movies and bowling, occasionally I play tennis too." Chanyeol answers, taking a drink of his caramel mocha.

"You like movies?" Baekhyun's eyes widen. "Like how much?"

"I love watching movies! I know a lot of them!" Chanyeol smiles.

Baekhyun feels happy that someone likes watching movies as much as he does, or at least almost as much as he does. "Me too! I have a movie marathon every weekend!"

Chanyeol frowns. "You're so lucky, I wish I had the time to do that."

"Maybe someday we can have a movie marathon together," Baekhyun says, his eyes bright and his smile huge.

"Sounds amazing."

"It would be so cool to watch movies with someone else who won't get tired of them!" Baekhyun exclaims, and Chanyeol swears he sees Baekhyun's eyes twinkle for a second.

"I would love to watch movies with you," Chanyeol replies, a genuine smile splaying across his lips.

It's at this moment as he stares at the tall guy across from him, when Baekhyun can hear his own heartbeat, that he knows for a fact that he really, really likes Chanyeol.

And he doesn't know this yet, but Chanyeol really, really likes him back.


	5. 5

"Do Kyungsoo!" Baekhyun shouts into the phone, running all around his bedroom like a chicken with its head cut off in search of clothes that look at least halfway decent. "Stop laughing and help me! He'll be here to pick me up any minute!"

"Chill out. Just wear something simple and stop screaming!" Kyungsoo laughs.

"I've never had anyone to impress so my closet is dull." Baekhyun groans, stomping his feet like a spoiled child. "I don't know if I like this."

"Like what?"

"Wanting to look nice for someone. It's too stressful! I don't need the wrinkles on my beautiful face!"

"Just get dressed you drama queen," Kyungsoo sighs. "It's kind of chilly out, do you have a sweater?"

Baekhyun gasps. "I just washed my favorite sweater this morning."

"What does it look like?"

"It's mustard yellow with navy blue patches on the elbows." Baekhyun answers, biting his lip. "Do you think that Chanyeol even likes mustard yellow? A lot of people don't like that color."

Kyungsoo chuckles. "You're so adorable, Baekhyun. Let me let you in on a little secret, if he likes you then it doesn't matter what color of sweater you wear. He's either going to be paying attention to your face or your ass."

Baekhyun's cheeks turn a light crimson shade in embarrassment and he's so thankful that Kyungsoo isn't here in person. "Oh my god! A-Alright. I got it. Just stop talking now, please."

"Hey, you asked for it because you're so clueless. No, there is nothing wrong with wanting to look nice for the person you like but don't stress about it so much. He obviously likes you so wearing a color he might not like isn't going to cause him walk away." Kyungsoo answers gently.

Baekhyun sighs and sits down on the end of his bed. "Thanks for being so patient, I suck at this whole dating thing."

"I'm just glad you're finally getting out there and meeting someone," Kyungsoo continues. "So a mustard yellow sweater, huh? You better be wearing dark skinny jeans then."

"Dark? Okay. I can do that." Baekhyun takes a deep breath. "Then I'll wear my navy blue sneakers."

"Sounds great. Chanyeol is going to be all over you tonight."

"Seriously stop saying things like that," Baekhyun's face goes red again. "I can't handle it."

Kyungsoo laughs. "Alright, you better hurry and finish getting ready. Tell me how it goes."

"Okay, I will. See ya."

After they hang up, Baekhyun goes over to his closet and gets out a pair of darker colored skinny jeans and his yellow sweater. Then after he gets dressed, he stares at himself in his standing oak mirror to check. He smiles in relief once he sees his reflection. He doesn't look bad. The words that Kyungsoo told him has given him the confidence that if Chanyeol likes him, it won't matter what he wears.

Just as he is going out of his room to put his sneakers on, the doorbell rings. A ball of nervousness settles in his stomach so he takes a big deep breath and heads towards the door. Chanyeol is here. Baekhyun takes another deep breath before unlocking the door and opening it to the very smiley male.

"Hey, you ready?"

"Almost. I just have to put my shoes on." Baekhyun answers in a quiet tone.

"Okay," Chanyeol steps into the apartment as Baekhyun steps aside, silently inviting the taller in. "Your apartment is cozy. I like it."

Baekhyun chuckles while bending down to grab his navy blue sneakers and proceeding to slip them on. "Thanks. I try to keep it as clean as I can. I'm kind of a slob sometimes."

"Aren't we all," Chanyeol averts his gaze from Baekhyun's backside, he is a gentleman after all. Although he'd be lying if he said he didn't take glances at it every once in awhile.

Baekhyun has a really nice figure, it'd almost be a crime not to secretly appreciate it. Chanyeol is snapped out of his thoughts when the smaller stands up straight from tying the laces on his sneakers. "Alright, I'm ready to go!"

It's officially been one month since they met each other. They eat lunch with each other everyday at work and go on a little restaurant date each weekend, but Baekhyun assumes that tonight is different from their usual because the tall guy hasn't told him what they're going to be doing. Chanyeol asked earlier this week if he could pick Baekhyun up on Saturday evening and take him somewhere quote, unquote 'really awesome'. Of course, Baekhyun has been kind of yearning to go on a date with Chanyeol that isn't at a restaurant, even if food is his favorite thing. Needless to say, Baekhyun is excited for whatever Chanyeol has planned for them tonight.

Baekhyun turns the light off then they walk out. He turns to lock his door before looking at Chanyeol with a small smile. Chanyeol smiles back then nods his head towards the hallway. "Shall we?"

"We shall." Baekhyun giggles and follows Chanyeol out the apartment building to his black jeep.

The shorter silently gasps once he sees it, Chanyeol's jeep is really nice. He can't help but wonder how much money the taller actually has. Being a marketing manager must pay so well, Baekhyun is a little embarrassed of his stupid secretary job. He just shrugs it off though, his job pays decent enough for him to survive so he shouldn't be thinking these things. Chanyeol goes around the small brunette to open the passenger side door for him. "Hop in, Baek."

"Thank you, sir." Baekhyun teases as he gets in the car. Chanyeol closes the door then goes around the front of the jeep to get into the driver's seat. He puts his seatbelt on and starts the vehicle.

Before backing out, he glances over to his right and notices that Baekhyun hasn't put his seat belt on yet. Wordlessly, he unbuckles his own seat belt and leans over to reach for Baekhyun's. The smaller doesn't realize what Chanyeol is doing because the sound of his throbbing heartbeat is blocking other sounds due to the sudden close proximity of their faces. Why is Chanyeol's face so close? Is this going to be their first kiss? Without another thought, Baekhyun closes his eyes, waiting for the impact. Nothing comes. He opens his eyes when he hears the click of his seat belt to see Chanyeol leaning back and putting his own seat belt back on. Of course Chanyeol wasn't leaning in to kiss him, what was he thinking? Baekhyun's cheeks turn pink and he lowers his head to stare at his lap. Does Chanyeol think that he's weird now?

"You alright there?" Chanyeol asks, a hint of worry flashing through his eyes while seeing Baekhyun with his head down. "Do you not like seat belts?"

Baekhyun's head snaps up, "Hm? Oh- yeah!"

"Good, you should always wear one to be safe." Chanyeol smiles and starts backing out. "By the way, I really hope you'll like this."

"I'm sure I will," Baekhyun answers simply. "Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise!"

"I don't like surprises," Baekhyun pouts and Chanyeol finds it adorable. "I wanna know."

"You'll find out soon enough." Chanyeol laughs.

-

"An observatory?" Baekhyun's eyes light up as they pull into the parking lot.

"Yeah, you don't like it?"

"No! That's not it. I've just never been to one before." Baekhyun smiles. "It sounds fun."

"That's great, I was worried." Chanyeol smiles in relief. "I rented a whole room for an hour."

"You what? A whole room?" Baekhyun's jaw hangs open. "Wouldn't that cost a fortune?"

Chanyeol shrugs, "It wasn't too bad. Don't worry!"

Once Chanyeol parks and they walk into the big, dome-like building, Baekhyun follows the older to the front desk.

"Hello, my name is Park Chanyeol. I have a room reserved for six thirty." He tells the young looking male at the front desk.

The guy types something into the computer in front of him. "Oh, there you are. Okay, you can follow me!" he stands up and starts walking in the direction of a staircase.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol silently follow the man up the stairs and into a hallway that has six, tall metal doors. The guide stops walking and so do they.

"You guys are going to be using theater five," he smiles and points to a certain door. "If you have any questions, I'll be sitting at the front desk. Enjoy!"

"Thank you," Baekhyun and Chanyeol say in unison.

The man walks away so Chanyeol leads Baekhyun into their assigned theater. The room is a little bigger than Baekhyun expected it to be, it's just like a small auditorium with a rounded ceiling.

"Where would you like to sit?" Chanyeol asks.

The shorter grins happily and grabs onto Chanyeol's wrist, dragging him towards the seats. "In the middle!"

Chanyeol chuckles at the younger's enthusiasm. "Are you excited?"

"Of course I'm excited! Thank you for bringing me here by the way." Baekhyun responds, his eyes crinkling a little as he smiles and sits down. Chanyeol sits in the seat to the left of him.

"You're welcome," Chanyeol smiles back. "I like spending time with you, Baek."

Baekhyun feels his stomach become fluttery and he nods. "I like spending time with you too."

Suddenly, the lights go off and a moving picture of space being projected onto the ceiling. The small brunette gasps out loud and leans back, staring up in awe. Chanyeol smiles to himself as he glances over at Baekhyun. He is just really, truly breathtaking. With the blue hued lights illuminating on his face, Baekhyun looks so beautiful to Chanyeol. Baekhyun is beautiful anyways but right now he's especially mesmerizing. And as always, the way Baekhyun gets so excited over simple little things causes Chanyeol's heart to melt. This past month has been a totally blessing to Chanyeol. His life has been insanely crazy the past year, it's so refreshing to enjoy time with Baekhyun. 

Chanyeol wants to pay attention to the pictures on the ceiling but his mind drifts elsewhere, recalling all the events that have happened in this year. After the news of the pregnancy, Chanyeol's mom practically disowned him. They haven't talked in months. It was upsetting, sure, but at least he had someone to help look after the baby. Nari's mom. The pregnancy went smoothly and Chanyeol felt that he was almost prepared for parenthood. After the countless books and web tutorials, he was confident that he was going to be an amazing father. Nari's birth was rough, for him and the mom. Chanyeol didn't know what to expect during the delivery and it was evident, the way he paled and nearly fainted. People always describe childbirth as beautiful and miraculous. Metaphorically it is, but realistically it is far from that. It's bloody, painful, and loud. Then again, Chanyeol has never really dealt well with blood. 

Of course, Chanyeol was disheartened that his mother wanted nothing to do with her first grandchild, but the moment he saw Nari's little face his body was overwhelmed with a type of unconditional love he had never before felt in his life. He thought everything was going to be alright, but then came the accident. The day that they could finally take Nari home, three and a half days after her birth, the doctor wanted Nari's mom to stay behind so that they could check her vitals and whatnot. She told Chanyeol to take their baby home and she would take a cab when the nurses were finished. Chanyeol protested heavily but gave up because the girl just gave birth and he didn't want to add the extra stress.

It was a head-on collision that took Nari's mom away. An older gentleman had a stroke while driving and crashed into the taxi that she was in. Since then, Chanyeol has struggled immensely with taking care of his baby girl by himself, without a person who knows things about childcare to help him. It's sad to think his mom still refuses to talk to him because he could really use her motherly advice a lot of the time but Nari is growing up healthily so he's proud that he is managing on his own.

"Chanyeol this is so beautiful!" Baekhyun exclaims, breaking Chanyeol away from his thoughts.

"I'm glad you like it," Chanyeol smiles, finally leaning back to look up at the virtual galaxy.

Soft music plays in the background as words pop up on the screen to explain which stars are which, what planets, and more. "I love it, thank you so much for this."

Chanyeol nods, "Of course. If there's a place you really want to go to, just tell me. I'll take you."

Baekhyun smiles at Chanyeol's words and continues looking up at the ceiling, getting completely immersed in the twinkling stars. After a while of the two watching the projection, Chanyeol notices Baekhyun's hand that is sitting on his thigh. They've known each other for a month now, holding his hand wouldn't freak him out right? Chanyeol peeks at Baekhyun's face, that is staring up at the stars above them with a concentrated facial expression, then slowly but surely travels to place his hand on top of the smaller's.

Baekhyun immediately turns his head to look at Chanyeol in question, a dark blush spreading across his cheeks. Chanyeol grins cheekily as a response and slips his fingers in between Baekhyun's, comfortably grasping onto the male's hand. Baekhyun's eyes trail downwards to look at their hands, adoring how perfect it feels for their fingers to be interlaced like this. Baekhyun's hand instinctively tightens around the other's large one and his lips upturn in a shy smile.

They sit in more silence after that, holding hands contently under the stars. Pictures of galaxies, planets, and stars come and go but neither of them let go of each other's hands.

Eventually, with high disappointment from Baekhyun, the show ends and they have to stop holding hands. He's so grateful that Chanyeol brought him here but now he's a little sad because one, the star show was absolutely gorgeous and two, he was really enjoying their moment. His heart thumps loudly in his chest as they walk back to Chanyeol's jeep, thinking about how amazing the taller male is. Park Chanyeol is a beautiful human being, inside and out.

Just as they reach the vehicle and Chanyeol reaches his arm out to open the passenger side door for his date, Baekhyun grabs his wrist before he can do so. Chanyeol looks at Baekhyun with a confused facial expression. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Baekhyun releases his grip and pulls his hand away. He abashedly averts his gaze to his sneakers and bites his lip for a second. "I just wanted to say that I had a nice time."

Chanyeol chuckles a little bit. "I did too, thank you for accompanying me."

Chanyeol turns to open the car door again but is interrupted for the second time. "Um- Chanyeol?"

The tall manager turns back around to a blushing Baekhyun who is still staring at his sneakers, shuffling his feet on the blacktop of the parking lot. "Yes?"

"I hope this doesn't sound selfish or anything," he pauses to cover his face with his hands, takes a deep breath, then uncovers his face slowly. "I-I just- "

Chanyeol laughs quietly and turns to fully face the younger, looking at him with gentle eyes. "You don't have to be embarrassed in front of me you know."

Baekhyun nods, his blush now very obvious. "I-I really like you and I would like you to be mine officially," he rushes his words all in one go.

Chanyeol stands there for a couple seconds in shock at the straightforwardness but then smiles brightly. At the lack of response, Baekhyun lifts his head just as Chanyeol steps forward to give him a quick, yet meaningful hug. The tall male pulls back, then plants a lingering kiss upon Baekhyun's forehead. Baekhyun nearly squeaks but he (barely) manages to keep his cool.

When Chanyeol's lips disconnect from Baekhyun's forehead, he's stepping back and unintentionally keeping his goofy smile. "If that's what you want then I'm all yours, Baekhyunnie."


	6. 6

Baekhyun wakes up Monday morning to a dinging sound. Disoriented and half awake, he smacks the top of his alarm clock with an aggravated groan. He yawns and stretches once he wills himself to sit up. The brunette glances at the time, realizing that it is thirty minutes before his alarm is set to go off. His forehead crinkles in confusion but sees that he has a notification on his phone. The alarm clock wasn't the one that made the dinging sound after all. He sighs and picks up his phone, kind of annoyed that he got woken up just thirty minutes before usual until he sees that his notification is a text message from Chanyeol.

 

_from pcy: good morning, my baekhyunnie ♡_

 

Baekhyun smiles brightly and immediately wakes more, quickly typing a response.

 

_to pcy: good morning, yeol~♡_

 

_from pcy: i can't eat with you at lunch today, will you ever be able to forgive me? :(_

 

Baekhyun's smile turns into a small pout as he reads Chanyeol's reply.

 

_to pcy: why can't you...? ;;;_

 

_from pcy: we have this huge new project so i have meetings all day, i'm so sorry :(_

 

_to pcy: don't worry about it, i'll just eat with kyungsoo._

 

_from pcy: kyungsoo? who's kyungsoo?_

 

_to pcy: oho, jealous boyfriend already? (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)_

 

_from pcy: (¬_¬) nooo! i'm just curious!!_

 

_to pcy: don't worry, he's kim jongin's boyfriend. my friend and coworker._

 

_from pcy: i see..._

 

_to pcy: but make sure to at least eat something for lunch though, okay? if you don't, i'll be really sad (T-T)_

 

_from pcy: i have to go, i will eat lunch for you. it's my duty to never make you sad! talk to you later ♡_

 

_to pcy: you better mister (-᷅_-᷄๑) see you later~_

 

Baekhyun smiles to himself, his heart palpitating happily. Who knew his first blind date ever would turn into something like this. He sighs in content and gets up to get ready for work.

-

"Baekhyun! Jongin just invited me to his sister's wedding and he wants you and Chanyeol to come too!" Kyungsoo exclaims, jogging up to Baekhyun's desk.

"Kyungsoo, I've never even met Jongin." Baekhyun sighs, not even bothering to glance up from his work. "Wouldn't it be weird if I went?"

"Not really because Chanyeol knows Jongin. Besides, I think he might just invite Chanyeol and tell him to bring a plus one. Which is you."

"I don't know..." Baekhyun frowns. "I'd be nervous to go."

"Why? It's just a wedding."

"Yeah, and I'm just Baekhyun. I don't like attending things with a lot of people."

"You need to get out more so you won't be so nervous around society."

"It's too hard, Kyungsoo. Cut me some slack." Baekhyun pouts.

Just then, one of the beige doors to the marketing department opens and out steps Baekhyun's very tall boyfriend. At the sight, Baekhyun's eyes light up and a big grin plasters itself onto his face. Distracted by Chanyeol's pure handsomeness, Baekhyun doesn't notice how frantic the older looks. Smile still there, Baekhyun opens his mouth to call for him but is interrupted by another one of the beige doors being slammed open. Out scurries Oh Sehun, who strides quickly after the man who is heading for the doors. Baekhyun and Kyungsoo watch the scene in utter confusion.

"Chanyeol! Wait!" Sehun exasperates loudly, catching up and grabbing onto his arm.

"Let go of me!" The tall guy fires back, roughly shoving Sehun off.

Baekhyun gulps and his grin fades. Chanyeol looks really angry. It's upsetting for the small brunette to see him like that. He contemplates going over and asking what's wrong but he's too scared to do so.

"Calm down for a second! She's with Minseok, she'll be fine. We need you to be present for this meeting!"

"Cancel it, I'm leaving." Chanyeol glowers.

"Park Chanyeol!"

"You don't understand, Sehun! Minseok called me and said that she won't stop coughing! She's way more important to me than some stupid meeting. I have to go right now. I need you to cancel it or postpone it or - something! If you don't, then I-I'll fire you!"

Baekhyun and Kyungsoo stare wide-eyed towards the two arguing men, not entirely sure what is going on. Did Chanyeol just threaten Sehun's employment? The said male, on the other hand, visibly tenses up. His prominent jaw line becomes even more noticeable as it tightens and his fists clench. For a second, Baekhyun is worried that Sehun is going to knock the lights out of his precious boyfriend.

"Just because you're a manager doesn't mean that you can do anything you want whenever you want! I'm always fucking covering for your ass, you should be more grateful for me! Just go and don't come back until tomorrow! I don't want to see you until then!" Sehun seethes.

And without another word, no quips nor even a glance towards Baekhyun, Chanyeol is turning and sprinting out of the main entrance. Sehun's shoulders droop with a sigh as he runs his fingers through his hair. He looks around the room at the people staring at him, all the while mumbling embarrassment driven apologies. The sharp-featured male freezes in his place as his eyes catch sight of Baekhyun and Kyungsoo, the brunette sitting while the raven haired one standing.

"Hey, I'm really sorry for all of that. We disturbed your work." Sehun frowns, walking up to Baekhyun's desk to join the two.

"I-It's fine but - what exactly just happened?" Baekhyun stutters.

Sehun purses his lips for a second before answering. "Listen, I know he's your boyfriend and all but - "

"What?!" Kyungsoo gasps. "Baekhyun! You didn't tell me that it was official yet!"

"I'm sorry," Baekhyun frowns. "I forgot to mention it."

"Whatever. Anyways, Sehun, you were saying?"

"He's been really stressed since Saturday evening because of this whole project thing." Sehun frowns once he realizes that he can't tell Baekhyun the truth. "His mom is having some chest pains right now and he flipped out. Man, it's just stress and more stress for him. I feel bad but then again, he needs to be at work more often than he is."

"Hm, maybe I could do something.." Baekhyun puffs out his cheeks a little bit, pondering. "Do you know anything that he likes?"

"Well, you, for starters." Sehun laughs as Baekhyun blushes a little. "But I could tell you a couple things."

Baekhyun smiles gratefully. "I should do something for him tomorrow to make him feel better."

"I think he would enjoy anything if it came from you, to be honest." Sehun smiles back. "I'll text you some things later but for now I have to sort out this whole meeting mess. Bye guys!"

Kyungsoo and Baekhyun bid their goodbyes as Sehun walks off.

-

Chanyeol lets out a small groan of frustration as yet another knock comes from the outside of his office door. Putting his head in his hands for a second, he sighs. If it's another one of the supervisors he thinks his head might explode.

"Come in," he says rather curtly.

Chanyeol's overall scowl turns into a small, relieved smile as soon as he sees Baekhyun step in. "Hi!"

"Baekhyun, what brings you here?" Chanyeol asks, seeing the bag in one of his hands and a nicely decorated box in the other.

"You don't want me here?" Baekhyun playfully pouts a little, closing the door behind him with his foot because his hands are full.

"No!" Chanyeol exclaims, standing up. "That's not what I meant. I'm glad you're here."

Baekhyun grins and sets the bag and box down onto the coffee table that's in front of the couch in the corner of the room. "Sehun told me what happened so I didn't text you last night, I figured you'd want to be alone with her."

"W-Wait. Sehun told you?" Chanyeol's eyes widen a little. "And you aren't angry?"

Sehun told Baekhyun about Nari? Behind his back?

Baekhyun looks at him with a quizzical expression. "Why would I be mad about your mother having chest pains?"

"My mother?" Chanyeol blinks a couple times. "Oh - yeah. My mother..."

A wave of relief washes over the manager.

Baekhyun frowns, stepping over to Chanyeol. "You poor thing, you must be so stressed out."

Chanyeol nods, accepting the sudden hands from Baekhyun as they cup his cheeks. Chanyeol leans into the caress, shoulders drooping a bit in serenity as Baekhyun strokes the taller's cheekbones lightly with his thumbs. "I haven't seen you since Friday." Baekhyun says quietly.

"I know, but you are seeing me now."

Baekhyun laughs gently, keeping his hands in their place on Chanyeol's cheeks. "I brought you lunch."

At the mention of food, Chanyeol's shoulders perk up a bit. "Lunch?"

"Yeah, I thought it'd be nice if we could eat together."

"Nice is an understatement."

After they move to the couch and start eating the chicken sandwiches and vegetables that Baekhyun brought, Chanyeol eyes the box.

"Baek, what's that?"

"Just a little surprise." Baekhyun flashes a quick grin, continuing to chew on his sandwich.

"For me?"

"No, for Sehun."

"Sehun?" Chanyeol frowns. "Why does he get a surprise box from my boyfriend?"

"I'm just messing with you," Baekhyun laughs. "You're so gullible. Yes it's for you, dummy."

Chanyeol pouts for a couple seconds but then smiles. "Why are you so nice? You brought me lunch and a gift! Don't you know just having you here would be amazing enough?"

Baekhyun blushes and attempts to hide his face with his half-eaten chicken sandwich. "Stop saying cheesy things, you meanie."

Chanyeol laughs at Baekhyun's cuteness, pulling his arm down so his face won't be hidden anymore. "But you love my cheesiness. You blush every time! Besides, I wouldn't be saying them if they weren't the truth."

Baekhyun sighs, then takes quite an aggressive bite of his food. "Just open the box already," he grunts with his mouth full.

Chanyeol chuckles. "Alright, if you insist."

The tall guy picks up the fancy box from the table and sets it on his lap. He unties the dark purple ribbon and unravels it from the box before setting it aside and taking off the lid. He smiles down at the gift on his lap, looking carefully at all the different designs and colors of the rows of treats.

"Do you like them?" Baekhyun questions, hope shining in his eyes. "I picked out the most prettily decorated ones for you."

"How'd you know I love chocolate covered strawberries? They look so delicious!" Chanyeol beams.

"I'm glad! I asked Sehun yesterday to tell me some things that you like because I figured you have been stressed out."

Chanyeol's heart warms at this. "You're so kind, Baekhyunnie. Thank you."

Baekhyun points to the box. "Go on, try one. I want to know if they taste good. They sure look amazing."

"Should I?" Chanyeol teases, "Or should I just give them back so you can eat them?"

"No! Just try one, silly!"

Chanyeol nods and gets a big one covered in white chocolate and red sprinkles out, biting into it. His eyes light up instantly. "This is the best!"

Baekhyun giggles and nods. "I knew you'd like them!"

Chanyeol finishes the strawberry quickly, immediately grabbing another one. Baekhyun chuckles at this. Once two more strawberries are completely devoured, Chanyeol looks over to Baekhyun with a bright smile. "Thank you so much, I'll save the rest for later."

"Um - Chanyeol?"

"Hm?"

"You have chocolate on your bottom lip." Baekhyun points timidly. "Here, let me get it."

Baekhyun reaches out to wipe the chocolate off, only to have his hand pulled away. Chanyeol grabs Baekhyun's hand with his own before the smaller can touch his mouth, and leans in smoothly, slotting their lips together. Baekhyun's eyes widen greatly but he soon closes them, kissing back. He's never been kissed like this before and his heart rate is currently going through the roof.

Chanyeol's mouth tastes so sweet, like chocolate and Baekhyun loves it. The way their lips move slowly against each other has Baekhyun's head reeling. He could totally get used to this. Chanyeol's lips are so soft and just by these couple seconds, Baekhyun's already addicted.

It all ends too soon though because Chanyeol is pulling away, just barely enough so their lips aren't touching anymore, and smiling gently. "Thank you."

"Thank m-me? I should be thanking you.." Baekhyun mumbles, blinking rapidly with rosy cheeks.

Chanyeol laughs softly. "For what?"

"For _that_."

"Don't thank me because that was just the first kiss of many," Chanyeol leans back and interlaces their fingers together. "Let's finish lunch, okay? I hate keeping you from your work. Although, I do love you being here with me. Maybe you and Sehun can switch jobs so I can see you more often."

Baekhyun, still in a daze, just chuckles. "You're ridiculous, finish eating already so I can escape from you."

Chanyeol gasps. "How rude."

They both continue eating, laughing, holding hands, and enjoying being close to one another.


	7. 7

"Hey, can you help me tie this?" Baekhyun asks loudly so Chanyeol will hear from the other room.

He turns and pouts at himself in the mirror. Why is it so hard to tie a tie? Shortly after, Chanyeol walks into Baekhyun's small bathroom upon hearing his question.

"Tie what?"

Baekhyun faces him with a frown. "I can't get my tie right. Can you help me?"

"Of course," the taller then gives a small chuckle before reaching out to grab hold of the fabric.

Baekhyun studies Chanyeol's face intently as he works on tying the tie. What did Baekhyun do in his past life to deserve someone as sweet (and not to mention as handsome) as Chanyeol? He smiles a little at the thought. Chanyeol feels Baekhyun's gaze on him so his eyes flicker upwards to catch the younger male smiling.

"What are you so smiley about?" Chanyeol retreats his hands. "And your tie is perfectly tied!"

"Nothing, and thank you." Baekhyun steps forward and hugs his waist.

Chanyeol chuckles and hugs back for a second then gently pushes Baekhyun back by the shoulders, successfully giving him a once-over. "Damn, you look really good in a dress shirt."

Baekhyun smiles. "So do you, but uh - " Chanyeol peers at him quizzically, provoking an explanation. "Well, your shirt is navy blue but you have a green tie on.."

The taller's face flushes a little. "It's not gray?"

"No, green." Baekhyun bites his lip so he won't laugh. Chanyeol's confused face is so cute.

The said male forces an awkward laugh. "Haha. I'm colorblind."

"Oh? You are?" Chanyeol nods in response and Baekhyun pouts a little in sympathy. "Don't worry, you can borrow one of my ties."

"Thank you."

"You still look handsome by the way," Baekhyun retorts, suddenly frowning. "What if I can't push all the people away who are coming after you?"

"Oh stop it," Chanyeol laughs. "I'm not _that_ handsome."

Baekhyun snorts. "Yeah okay, sure. I mean it's not like you look like you came straight from a magazine or whatever. Let's just finish getting ready."

-

Baekhyun would like to say that he doesn't become anxious as soon as they walk into the venue but that's not exactly the case. He kind of clears his throat and fixes the tightness of his necktie as he walks right beside Chanyeol, almost pushing into the latter. Just how popular is Jongin's family? Everywhere Baekhyun turns, there are large groups of people. It's so loud. There has to be at least four hundred people in the lobby and their conversations all seem to be amplified in Baekhyun's ears. It's making him have a headache.

When Chanyeol grabs Baekhyun's arm and starts to maneuver through the crowd, that's when it gets worse. He holds his breath. The loud voices surrounding them gets to be too much. The smaller starts to feel as if he's a bunny in the middle of a pack of hungry wolves. He starts to feel as if everyone's eyes are on _him_. The thought, albeit outlandish, makes him stop walking and push Chanyeol's hand off of his arm. He doesn't know why because he's dizzy and he wants nothing more than to get out of here.

A couple of people bump into him, walking away without anything remotely close to an apology or even a glance. Then Baekhyun notices it, the moving lips of his boyfriend. Chanyeol has been saying something to him with a concerned expression but he's been too focused on the people around him. He didn't even realize that Chanyeol had stopped walking with him.

"Hm?" Baekhyun blinks a couple times, trying to concentrate only on what Chanyeol is saying but still glancing back and forth with a subtle look of fear on his face.

"Are you alright? Why did you stop? We need to sign our names in the guest book."

"Can we go to the restroom first?" Baekhyun finally fixes his gaze on Chanyeol, forcing the volume in his voice so he will be heard. It's way too loud in here to talk quietly.

"I don't know where they are but yeah, we can find one. C'mon." Chanyeol grabs onto Baekhyun's arm once again and pulls him through the sea of bodies.

When they spot a sign that points to the restrooms, they walk down the long hallway in silence until they reach the door. Not hesitating a single second, Baekhyun pushes it open and steps inside. He sighs in relief upon finding out that no one is in here.

"Lock the door, please." Baekhyun orders softly, walking over to the sink and turning on the cold water.

Chanyeol's eyebrows furrow as he watches Baekhyun lean over the sink and splash water onto his face but locks the door as he's told. "Baek, what's wrong? Do you not feel well?"

Baekhyun pulls out some paper towels from the holder and wipes the water droplets off of his face. "A little bit."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Chanyeol frowns, stepping closer. "I could've gotten you some medicine."

"I'm okay," Baekhyun throws away the paper towels and that's when Chanyeol takes a good look at his face.

"Baekhyun, you're as pale as a ghost. Are you sure you're okay?"

Baekhyun bites his lip nervously and nods his head slowly, averting his gaze.

"Somehow I don't really believe you." Chanyeol sighs. "But if you're okay then we should probably get going."

Chanyeol starts to turn around but Baekhyun lunges after him, gripping tightly onto his arm so he won't move from his spot. Chanyeol, too shocked to really say anything, gives the smaller a questioning look.

"M-Maybe we can just stay in here for a little longer..?" Baekhyun stumbles in distress, his voice barely above a whisper.

"We can't, Baek. The ceremony is going to start soon and we haven't even signed in yet."

"But - "

"Is there something wrong? You're sick aren't you? Baekhyun, you could've just told me beforehand. I wouldn't have made y - "

"I'm not sick." Baekhyun interrupts.

"Then what is it? What's wrong?"

Baekhyun tears his gaze away from Chanyeol's intimidating one, mumbling softly, "You don't need to worry about it. It's pathetic."

"I highly doubt that. Just tell me." Chanyeol says gently. "What's wrong?"

"It's just," Baekhyun swallows thickly then takes a deep breath. "A lot of people are out there."

Chanyeol is quiet for a moment, staring at Baekhyun with a facial expression that is somehow unreadable but soon, slowly wraps his arms around Baekhyun's petite frame, hugging him tightly. "So that's what it is?"

Baekhyun nods weakly into his chest as his arms come up to return the hug. "I'm sorry, I've never really been good around people."

"Don't apologize. It's not your fault." Chanyeol rubs one of his hands up and down Baekhyun's back for comfort. "But I think it would be good for you to face this head on."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's go out to the ceremony and I'll be right beside you when you're feeling anxious, alright? Just focus on me, okay?"

"I-I don't know, Yeol." Baekhyun pulls back from the embrace slightly to look up at his face.

"You can do it, Baekhyun." Chanyeol smiles encouragingly. "And if it ever gets so bad that you just want to get out of there, then we can leave. How does that sound?"

"Honestly, not very assuring but I don't want to be a burden so I'll try." Baekhyun shows a weak smile.

"You're never a burden. Don't say those kinds of things. And I'm glad you'll try, it could help you not be so nervous around people." Chanyeol finally lets go of Baekhyun, holding out his hand for the smaller to hold. "Now let's go see Jongin's sister get married then afterwards we can eat food and dance!"

-

And Baekhyun thought the ceremony was absolutely gorgeous. Jongin's sister looked like an absolute princess today. In fact, he enjoyed the ceremony so much that he even cried a little. Chanyeol immediately became the worry wart that he is, pulling the smaller close and asking if he was okay. Baekhyun just replied with a small; "I just love love, that's all."

Everything was going great, until now, the dismissal for the reception.

It's unbelievably crowded and it makes Baekhyun's anxiety skyrocket. Thank god Chanyeol notices and protectively wraps his arm around Baekhyun's shoulders. He's still nervous but at least Chanyeol's hold brings a little comfort.

"Baekhyun, focus on me, remember?" Chanyeol says as they walk, starting to become enveloped by the mass of people.

"H-How?"

"Where do you wanna go after the reception is over? I have a couple hours to spare and I'd like to spend them with you." Chanyeol changes the subject suddenly, hoping to distract the younger from his anxiety.

"I don't know," Baekhyun then blinks a couple times. "Wait - there's a park near my apartment complex. Would you want to take a walk or something? I-I know that sounds kind of dumb but I think it'd be nice since the weather is cooling down and everything.."

"It doesn't sound dumb at all, we can go to the park."

Baekhyun flashes a small smile, in return receiving a grin from Chanyeol. He's relieved that his plan to distract Baekhyun is working.

"Wow, look. We're already in the reception area!" Chanyeol exclaims.

Baekhyun's eyes widen. Not because he's surprised at how quickly they got here, no, because of how much smaller the reception area is from the sanctuary that Jongin's sister and her fiancé just got married in. It's packed with people and Baekhyun's body almost has convulsions right then and there. And he thought the sanctuary was horrible but at least the people were spread out more than _this_.

It's unbelievably suffocating.

But Baekhyun wills himself to follow Chanyeol, stuck to his side like glue, through the crowd. It almost feels as if with every step he takes, he's going further and further down into a big puddle of quicksand as they wind around the hundreds of tables in the boisterous banquet hall. Baekhyun is currently having a mental battle, should he excuse himself to go to the restroom and stay in there for a long time (preferably until the reception is over)? Or should he really push himself to stay in here? He really doesn't want to be labeled as the grown man who can't even handle going to a wedding – that'd be especially embarrassing in front of his first serious boyfriend – but he also really doesn't think he'll be able to handle anymore of this outrageousness.

Eventually, with Baekhyun forcing himself to push his thoughts away, they find Kyungsoo and two other males that Baekhyun has never met before. Chanyeol seems to know the two men though as he just leads Baekhyun to sit at the table. Being the gentlemen he is, Chanyeol pulls out a chair for Baekhyun to sit down in as he starts conversation. Baekhyun sits down quickly, unintentionally ignoring everyone around him.

"Hey Junmyeon, hey Jongdae." Chanyeol flashes a friendly smile. "Oh, hi. I don't think I've ever met you. I'm Park Chanyeol."

"Hi, I'm Do Kyungsoo. Jongin's boyfriend."

"Ah! Right! I've heard a lot about you from this one." Chanyeol chuckles, pointing to his left at Baekhyun while sitting down.

"Hi, Mr. Park." Junmyeon greets back.

"Hi!" Jongdae smiles as well.

"Junmyeon, we're out of the workplace. I'd prefer it if you'd call me Chanyeol."

"Okay," Junmyeon laughs.

"Baekhyun, how are you today?" Kyungsoo asks gently.

Baekhyun's throat suddenly goes dry as his head snaps up, having not been paying attention until now. "Hm? O-Oh hi, Kyungsoo."

Kyungsoo does notice Baekhyun's unusual behavior but he decides not to say anything, turning to Chanyeol. "It's nice to officially meet the man that has made Baekhyun more lively these past weeks."

"Thank you," Chanyeol laughs. "It's nice to meet you too. Baekhyun talks about you a lot."

"Only good things I hope." Kyungsoo responds, his smile heart shaped.

"Of course!" Chanyeol turns and puts his hand on Baekhyun's shoulder, the smaller male flinching a little but no one notices except Kyungsoo. "By the way, Baekhyun. These are two of my coworkers, Kim Jongdae and Kim Junmyeon."

"H-Hello." Baekhyun tries to smile but it comes across more of a pained expression. Again, no one notices except Kyungsoo.

"It's nice to meet you, Baekhyun." Junmyeon smiles.

"Yeah, it's so nice to meet you. Sehun told me that Chanyeol is dating someone, I was curious! You guys look good together!" Jongdae exclaims.

"Speaking of Sehun, where is he?" Chanyeol asks. "And Jongin?"

"Well Sehun and Jongin are both in the bridal party and they're all getting the wedding pictures done in the sanctuary." Kyungsoo answers. "They'll be here soon but only Sehun will sit with us because Jongin is the best man so he has to sit at the reserved bridal party table with his sister, the groom, and the maid of honor."

"Oh, that stinks." Chanyeol frowns. "Baekhyun hasn't met Jongin, has he?"

Kyungsoo shakes his head. "Nope, I don't believe so."

Just then, a woman's voice comes through the speakers overhead and announces that everyone can begin lining up for food. Almost everyone in the room starts standing up and Baekhyun's already fast beating heart beats even faster. His hands that were resting on his lap, make their way down to the seat of his chair on either side of his knees, grabbing the cushion and squeezing it hard.

First Junmyeon stands up, then Jongdae, then Chanyeol. Kyungsoo stays sitting but that doesn't stop him from asking, "Baekhyun? Are you going to eat?"

Baekhyun blinks a couple times and gulps slightly, taking a quick glance at the mass of humans there are. "Uh - I'm not that hungry."

At that, Chanyeol leans down to kiss the top of Baekhyun's head before whispering. "Just relax, Baek. I'll get you some food while I'm up there, okay? Kyungsoo, are you going too?"

"No, I'm going to wait for Jongin. I'll stay and keep Baekhyun company." Kyungsoo smiles a little.

"Okay, I'll be back." Chanyeol says before disappearing into the crowd, Junmyeon and Jongdae long gone.

Kyungsoo and Baekhyun don't speak, Baekhyun busy frantically glancing around and Kyungsoo busy peering curiously at him. Baekhyun sure is acting strange today.

Not even noticing Kyungsoo's stare, Baekhyun reprimands himself in his brain while watching person after person walk around the banquet hall. His brain mocks him: _Why are you so anxious anyways?_

_Stupid, you can't even go to a wedding? How pathetic._

_You're hopeless._

_Chanyeol is probably mad at you for ruining his day._

_Stop being such a burden._

_Seriously? You couldn't have even gotten your own food? What an idiot._

_There's no reason to be scared, you're such a baby!_

_You can't do anything right._

_This is why everyone made fun of you in school._

Baekhyun looks down at his lap and closes his eyes tightly for a second, trying his hardest to get rid of all these toxic thoughts. But he can't. Then, there's a hand on his arm.

"Baekhyun? You don't look so hot. Are you okay?" Kyungsoo questions, his gentle voice oozing with concern.

His anxiety level through the roof now, Baekhyun gets up with a nod. He needs to do something. He needs to get out of here. "I-I'm going to go to the restroom."

"Okay, hurry back." Kyungsoo says dishearteningly as he watches Baekhyun basically sprint away, into the crowd of people.

Baekhyun nearly starts crying as he literally pushes his way past people, the women and men throwing nasty looks his way along with some 'Hey, watch its' and some other mean words.

As soon as he's past everyone, he doesn't just continue to the restrooms, instead he goes all the way out of the banquet hall doors and doesn't slow down until he's in the lobby. Not bothering to watch where he's going, he runs straight into someone, successfully knocking him down to the ground. His butt ends up landing on the cold, clay tiles.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! Here let me help!" A familiar voice calls out.

Suddenly, he's being pulled up from the floor by his arms and straight into sight of Oh Sehun.

"Baekhyun? What are you doing out here?" Sehun notices Baekhyun's very disheveled state. "Where's Chanyeol? Aren't you with him today?"

Too many questions. Baekhyun's brain swirls. "I-I'm sick so I'm headed home."

"Aw, that's too bad. Chanyeol loves dancing at big parties like this. He's a horrible dancer, it's funny. I'll make sure to get a video of it for you." Sehun gives him a small, kind smile.

"Thank you."

"No problem, now get some rest!" Sehun pats his shoulder before walking past him and towards the banquet hall.

And with that, Baekhyun continues to exit the main doors of the building.

"I'm sorry, Yeol." He whispers as he walks towards the edge of the sidewalk, holding his arm out to hail a taxi. "I tried."


	8. 8

** Warning: The next couple chapters may be triggering for some people so read with caution please! **

Sighing, Chanyeol starts closing all the files on his desk. He stands up and stacks them into a pile before pushing his chair in and bending down to grab his briefcase.

Sehun looks up from some documents he has been reading just as Chanyeol stands up straight. "Woah, woah, woah. Where are you going, hotshot?"

"I'm taking my lunch break to go check on Baekhyun."

Sehun's eyebrows furrow. "Is he still sick? Kyungsoo said this morning that he didn't come in to work today."

"Baekhyun isn't here today?" Chanyeol tilts his head slightly.

"I ran into him at the wedding Saturday and he looked really bad." Sehun frowns a little.

"You ran into him and you're choosing to tell me two days later?" Chanyeol grits out.

"What do you mean?"

"I haven't talked to him since the reception on Saturday! It's Monday! He won't answer my texts or my calls!"

"Oh, wow. Did you do anything to make him mad?" Sehun asks.

"I don't know. What did he say when you ran into him? He left without telling anyone and I haven't heard from him since. I also haven't had any time to check if he is at home."

"Well he just said that he was going home because he was sick." Sehun purses his lips for a second. "I'll cover for you so you should go check right now."

"Thanks, Sehun. I owe you one." Chanyeol sighs in relief as he starts to briskly walk towards the door.

"Actually you owe me a lot more than just one!" Sehun calls after him, the door slamming shut and cutting his words off.

As soon as Chanyeol gets into his jeep, he's speeding off to Baekhyun's apartment complex. It's not far from the firm but Chanyeol hurries because he's anxious to know if his boyfriend is okay. Once he reaches the parking lot of Baekhyun's place, he parks sloppily, not allowing himself to truly care if his jeep is just a little too crooked. Then he's unbuckling his seat belt and opening his car door in record time. He gets out and heads into the building. Surely he's worried for nothing, right?

Due to basically having a marathon up the staircase (because the elevator was too slow for his liking), he is finally standing in front of Baekhyun's apartment. Completely out of breath and consumed with worry, Chanyeol raises his fist to knock on the door a couple times. A few seconds later, the door opens to a very worn out looking Baekhyun in oversized pajamas. The small male's eyes widen upon seeing his sweaty boyfriend who is standing right before him.

"Ch-Chanyeol? What are you doing here?"

"Baekhyun! Thank god you're okay!" Chanyeol yanks the secretary into his arms for a quick embrace, but pulls back with a highly conflicted looking facial expression. "What happened? Why did you leave without telling me? Have you been home this whole time? Why haven't you been answering my phone calls or texting me back? Did I do something to upset you? Are you sick? Is that why you didn't come to work today? Was it me or are you really sick? Gah, my heart has been racing with worry since you left the reception! How could you do this to me? I'm just so wor - "

"I'm heading to the laundromat downstairs." Baekhyun says quietly, ignoring the taller's spiel of questions. He then turns around and walks away, grabbing a medium sized plastic tote full of clothes.

Chanyeol just stands there, dumbfounded as he watches Baekhyun gather everything that he's taking to the apartment building's laundromat. "Is that your way of telling me to leave?"

Baekhyun freezes and turns his head back to the door, looking into Chanyeol's brown eyes. He speaks quietly, "I just don't think I'm cut out for this, Yeol."

Chanyeol's heart plummets. "Wait a second. A-Are you breaking up with me?"

Baekhyun doesn't say anything, instead turns his head back to the tote of clothes.

"Because that's not fair," Chanyeol starts, his voice growing a bit shaky. "It's not fair to me and you know it!"

Again, Baekhyun keeps silent.

"Baekhyun, please." Chanyeol pleads, then softer; more broken, "Please. Why don't we sit down and talk about this, hm?"

A few more seconds of silence from Baekhyun and ragged breaths from Chanyeol, the older flinches when the tote Baekhyun is holding falls to the ground. It tips sideways and most of the dirty laundry spills out onto the hardwood floor.

Then come the tears. And they don't come from Chanyeol, but Baekhyun. The smaller gasps and chokes on his sudden sobs. The tears come fast, streaking his face like a waterfall. "I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry I left. I'm sorry I've been ignoring you. I'm sorry I haven't told you the truth about me. I don't deserve to date anyone! But I don't w-want to break up. I'm so sorry."

Chanyeol feels his heart get hit with a pang of sadness. Baekhyun seems to be in a lot of pain about something. The thought of it makes him step in, close the door behind him, and walk closer to hug Baekhyun so tightly. "How about we sit down on the couch and talk through this, okay? And tell me everything that is going through your mind. Promise?"

Baekhyun nods, taking a deep breath and wiggling out of Chanyeol's arms. "G-Go ahead and sit. I'll be right back," he states solemnly.

Chanyeol purses his lips, turns to sit down on Baekhyun's living room couch, and watches as the latter disappears down the hallway. He hears shuffling from Baekhyun's bedroom and soon the small male is coming back out with a small bottle of medication in his hand.

"I know this is sudden but - um - I really like you, Chanyeol. I don't know where our relationship will stand after I tell you this and I'm terrified to even be telling you but I know that it may hinder things between us if I don't explain everything to you," Baekhyun takes a deep breath before sitting down, purposefully distancing himself from the taller. "No one in the world knows this except my parents but - there's way more to my story about why I left the wedding. It wasn't just your everyday case of anxiety."

Chanyeol listens intently, watching carefully as Baekhyun slowly but shakily extends the bottle that he brought out from his bedroom, showcasing it to the older. Baekhyun continues, "Here, I-I take one of these every morning."

Chanyeol takes the bottle from Baekhyun, twisting it around in his hands and reading the words. It all becomes confusing to him so he looks up and glances at the smaller. "I'm sorry but I don't know a thing about medicine.."

Baekhyun chews on his bottom lip for a second before wiping his nearly dried tears with the back of his sweater sleeve. "It's a prescribed antipsychotic."

Chanyeol blinks a couple times. "I still don't quite underst - "

"I have schizophrenia, Chanyeol."


	9. plz read

**\- NOT A CHAPTER -**

 

**For those of you who are curious, I'll explain a little bit about why I am writing Baekhyun's character to be schizophrenic.**

**First off, I just found out about a month and a half ago that one of my close friends has schizophrenia. To me, it was so interesting because I really had no clue that he had such a serious disorder! His aunt was the one to tell me and it was very shocking (of course not in a bad way!) to me because you always see movies and stuff with people who have schizophrenia and they're always portrayed sort of crazily. Now technically, because the way their brain works it's not particularly wrong but schizophrenic people can also be high functioning with the right medication and if that's not enough, various types of therapy.**

**I've only met one other schizophrenic person in my life and sadly, she doesn't get any help or medication or anything so people are very rude to her because of her actions. She's also very much into drugs and goes to prison a lot. I hate to say it but because of meeting her and seeing how media portrays schizophrenia, (I met that woman before I knew my friend was diagnosed with the same disorder) I've been so ignorant about the whole disorder. I've always thought that schizophrenic people were insane, and sadly that's the truth and I feel bad that I've ever thought that way.**

**So one of the reasons why I wanted Baekhyun to have schizophrenia is because I wanted to show people (including myself) that even people with a serious mental illness can be high functioning! They can live normal lives. They definitely aren't insane. So I guess you can say I'm writing Baekhyun's character as a way of apologizing for thinking with my ignorance? Maybe?**

**Anyways..**

**Secondly, I've been diagnosed with chronic depression and anxiety disorder so I often write my stories with someone who has anxiety because I can relate to them and make it more realistic because I've lived through similar experiences. So I also wrote Baekhyun's character to have schizophrenia because I'd like to expand my knowledge on other mental disorders, not just anxiety.**

**Also, I'm very nervous to write about such a serious thing but I think it will be okay in the long run. I just really don't want to offend anyone so please comment if you feel uncomfortable while reading my story! I'd like to know if I'm ever crossing any boundaries!**

**Okay, I'm sorry for rambling but yeah! There's my explanation for the plot twist! Next chapter will come soon and it will go into full detail of Baekhyun's childhood and his schizophrenia.**

**Hope you guys continue to enjoy reading my story! Thanks! :)**

 


	10. 9

"You have schizophrenia..?" Chanyeol asks slowly, his voice small.

Baekhyun averts his gaze to the black screen of the fairly large television in the corner of the room. "Uh huh."

"I-I don't know what to say."

"I understand," Baekhyun mutters. "It's probably a lot to take in."

"Well it's just - I don't know anything about it. Don't people with schizophrenia talk to themselves all the time? Is that what it is?"

Baekhyun frowns a little bit. "You really have watched a lot of movies, haven't you?"

"No, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I meant to ask what is schizophrenia exactly? I'll be quiet because I don't know anything about this and I don't want to offend you at all. Can you please just explain everything to me? From the beginning. Maybe I'll understand better." Chanyeol rambles, handing the pill bottle back to Baekhyun.

Baekhyun takes a deep breath then hesitates, "It's a long story, Yeol. I think it'd be best to explain it on a day that you don't have to work."

"Nonsense, Sehun is covering for me today. He was worried about you too once I told him that I haven't talked to you since you left the wedding on Saturday." Chanyeol explains.

"I'm sorry for that by the way." Baekhyun looks to his lap in shame. "I just needed some time to breathe, if that makes any sense."

"May I ask what really happened at the wedding? You told me that you're not good around people so I just assumed you were a little uncomfortable.." Chanyeol trails off. "But if you're on medication, then it was something else other than schizophrenia, right?"

"Uh - not exactly. Just because I'm taking medicine for my condition doesn't mean that it all just goes away. The medication just helps my brain to think normally, but I still have some episodes in certain situations. Like a place with tons of people in one area, for example. Anxiety is one of the main symptoms for me when I'm in a public setting with large groups of people but there are other symptoms too. First, I get anxious, then I usually unintentionally make myself believe that everyone is paying attention to me, then eventually it leads to what the doctors call 'intrusive or abusive voices'. Negative thoughts about myself or my actions appear in my mind but it's as if someone is actually speaking them to me. And the voices are antagonizing. When you left to go get in the food line, I kept hearing that I was stupid, pathetic, hopeless, a burden to you, an idiot, and that I was acting like a baby." Baekhyun stares at his lap as he says all of this. "You see, I can't just will those thoughts away. Believe me, if I could I would. Anyways since I began taking the antipsychotics near the time I started developing schizophrenia, I'm able to have very little symptoms. It also helps that they diagnosed me with a semi-mild case of the disorder. So unless I'm put into extreme situations, then my brain stays on track and doesn't start drifting. Also, I know calling a wedding an 'extreme situation' is weird but it truly is for me."

Chanyeol thinks that it'd be a good idea to try and comfort Baekhyun while he's talking. It's probably very hard to open up about having a mental illness. But he's also kind of wary about touching Baekhyun at a time like this. Even a hand hold can make someone uncomfortable if they are trying to hold a serious conversation such as this one. So, Chanyeol scoots closer to the smaller, in an attempt to let him know that he isn't going anywhere and he's here to listen. "You said you started to develop schizophrenia, you weren't born with it?"

Baekhyun shakes his head, "I was born with the genes that made it possible for me to develop schizophrenia, but I didn't start showing the symptoms until I was eleven."

"So it runs in your family then? Is that what you're saying?"

"Yeah, my grandma and her mom had it. Thankfully, my mom didn't start developing it although she does have very bad anxiety issues. My mom's sister had schizophrenia as well..."

"Had?"

Baekhyun frowns, suddenly tilting his head up and turning it to look at Chanyeol's face. "Well..she refused help and she didn't even make it past the negative symptoms. She committed suicide."

Chanyeol gasps lightly. "I'm so sorry, Baekhyun." Then his eyebrows furrow a little. "And what are the negative symptoms?"

"Hm," Baekhyun chews on his lip for a second. "Schizophrenia comes with negative, positive, cognitive, and speech symptoms. What's a good way to explain it? Oh, well - my doctor from when I was a teenager explained it to me in this way so I would understand; a positive symptom is when an emotion or behavior is added and a negative symptom is when an emotion or behavior is missing. No matter how long you've had schizophrenia, you'll have either but for the first six to nine months, your symptoms are typically going to be negative."

"So when you said your aunt didn't make it through the negative symptoms, you meant that she didn't make it past the first stage of symptoms?"

"Yeah, it's sad. But she was diagnosed way later in life than I was. She was an adult and could understand what was happening to her, I on the other hand, had no idea why I was changing so much. I had a psychiatrist diagnose me to be schizophrenic when I was twelve." Baekhyun then takes a small, deep breath, reaching up to grab his forehead.

"Are you okay?" Chanyeol asks, sitting up a little straighter.

"Yeah, I just have a headache. I didn't sleep well last night." Baekhyun forces a tiny smile. "Anyways, I'll continue explaining because I really think you need to understand what it will be like if we stay together."

"What do you mean by that?"

"What do you mean what do I mean? If we stay in a serious relationship for a long time and I don't know – move in together or something – you're bound to witness me sometime in the midst of my messed up brain." Baekhyun huffs a little.

"Baekhyun, don't say that." Chanyeol scolds. "And okay, you're right. You should tell me your most common symptoms so I'll be prepared."

"I've been on the medicine so long that it's hard to tell," Baekhyun sighs. "But most likely it'll be hallucinations, delusions, and/or disorganized thoughts."

"What do you mean by disorganized thoughts?"

Baekhyun sighs. "Well for example, when I was eleven and around the time I first started showing signs of my disorder, one of my teachers asked a question. I was a great student so I raised my hand to answer. I was confident that my answer was right so I started to tell her what it was but my thoughts interrupted each other in a way, and I blurted out something about making blueberry muffins with my mom instead. I suddenly lost all train of thought and even forgot what the original question was. The whole class laughed at me so after the school day was over I went home crying, asking my mom what I did wrong. Of course, she just told me that people can make mistakes like that. That it was totally normal. But that's one example of a disorganized thought."

Chanyeol frowns a little at the story. "You mentioned earlier about schizophrenia typically having negative symptoms in the beginning. What were yours?"

Baekhyun blinks a couple times then looks away. He suddenly stands up. "I think you should go back to work."

"Baekhyun," Chanyeol softly grabs the smaller's wrist. "It might help if you open up about these things to someone other than your parents."

"Help what? Hm? Help the fact that I have schizophrenia?" Baekhyun yanks his wrist from Chanyeol's hand. "It's never going to go away. Tell me, will it help the fact that every single fucking day of my school career I was called 'just a dumb retard'? Or will it help the fact that my dad left us because 'he couldn't handle the stress'? Chanyeol, I like you but I don't think you realize how hard it is for someone like me to talk so lightly about my disorder. Telling you doesn't make any difference to my disability. At all. I-It doesn't help the fact that I actually stopped talking for a year and a half in middle school because every time I said something I stuttered so bad that I sounded like I was a sprinkler! If me speaking funny wasn't enough for kids to make fun of me about, boy, they had a lot of fun making fun of me because I wouldn't talk! So don't sit there and act like you understand things. Like you actually know that talking about it will help me because news flash, it won't. I'll still be 'the kid who has a mental problem' and 'the kid who has no friends because he is a retard' or 'the man who has only had one job offer in his life because they saw that he has schizophrenia'! I'm always going to be me. Baekhyun. The guy who just wants to be normal." Baekhyun finishes, his breathing ragged and tears streaking his cheeks. "Maybe I'll never last in a relationship either. I pushed everyone I loved away from me. Maybe I'm just not ready to date yet. I can't help it that I selfishly thought I could."

"But you _can_ , Baekhyun. You can. Please don't push me away when all I want to do is stay by your side. If it makes you feel any better, I won't ask anymore questions. Okay? It's done. Alright? You told me that you have schizophrenia. It's over. You did it." Chanyeol breathes out. "You told me and I'm not planning on going anywhere, okay? I don't think any differently of you."

Baekhyun starts crying harder, letting the pill bottle drop from his hands and plop to the floor before slowly sitting back down on the couch. "What if I want you to go somewhere?"

"Hm?"

"What if I don't want to do this anymore, Yeol?" Baekhyun mutters, frantically wiping off his tears but they keep falling no matter how many times he wipes them.

"But will you be happy if you break up with me? Is it what you really want? Or are you just scared to keep trying?"

"I-I'm scared. I'm so scared. W-What if you see my true self? What i-if you leave me when I get way too attached to you? W-What if y - "

"Shh. Stop overthinking. If I don't like you for you then I'd be a horrible boyfriend for you, right? Don't worry about that so much. You told me about your schizophrenia and I haven't left, have I?" Chanyeol speaks gently.

"No." Baekhyun sniffles, choking a little bit on the tears he tries to force back.

"And I don't plan on leaving anytime soon. So what if you have schizophrenia? Does it really matter? You're the person that I like. I like you, and that isn't going to change so easily. Also, thank you for explaining everything to me. Maybe you can explain a bit more when you feel like doing so."

"Can we just do something else please? I don't wanna think about this anymore right now." Baekhyun whispers.

"So you don't want me to leave?"

Baekhyun takes a deep breath before shaking his head. "You wanna stay to keep me company while I do my laundry?"

"Sure. I'll do that." Chanyeol flashes a goofy smile in hopes to lighten the mood a bit.

Baekhyun returns it with a small smile of his own. He then leans forward and places a lingering peck against Chanyeol's lips. Once they pull back, Chanyeol is breathless, staring into Baekhyun's glassy brown eyes with sincerity.

"What was that for?"

"I thought you were my boyfriend." Baekhyun responds quietly. "I can't kiss you without reason?"

"N-No, of course you can! I just wasn't expecting you to do tha - "

Baekhyun interrupts him with a longer kiss, pulling away with a shy smile.

"Or that."

"Thank you for being patient with me. I'm sorry that I kind of lashed out on you."

Chanyeol shakes his head. "Don't apologize. I deserved it. I'm sorry for speaking so casually." He grabs ahold of Baekhyun's hand. "Now let's go downstairs so I can make cheesy puns about laundry detergent while you do your laundry."

Chanyeol stands up, letting go of Baekhyun's hand to bend down and pick up the spilt tote of dirty clothes, all the while a folded piece of paper falling out of his pocket. Baekhyun notices it, then picks it up swiftly, deeming it as a piece of trash.

Chanyeol stands up. "You ready?"

"Yeah," Baekhyun smiles a little and stuffs the paper in his pocket.

He'll throw it out later.

"Hey." Chanyeol calls suddenly.

"Hm?"

"Cheer up, okay? Everything is going to turn out just fine."

That earns Chanyeol another soft kiss, Baekhyun having to tiptoe and lean over the tote that Chanyeol is holding in front of his stomach. They both slightly chuckle before heading down to the laundromat together, Baekhyun forgetting to throw away the piece of paper that fell from Chanyeol's jacket pocket in the hallway trash can.

 


	11. 10

Sehun walks into Chanyeol's apartment, having been given a spare key before Nari was born just in case something bad happened. He uses the key for his advantage though, like now, he just walks into his boss's apartment without a care in the world.

The tall assistant has learned to never call out for Chanyeol because Nari might be sleeping. He stalks into the living room upon hearing a vague noise of the tv, and spots Chanyeol lying on the couch. Sehun chuckles because once he walks closer, he realizes that Chanyeol is asleep, holding a sleeping Nari in his arms.

The tall male leans over Chanyeol's sleeping body to carefully pick up Nari from his loose grip. Sehun also makes sure not to intentionally wake up the baby. "What are we going to go with your daddy, Nari?" Sehun whispers, mostly to himself, before tiptoeing to Chanyeol's room to tuck Nari into her actual crib.

He hears a loud snore from the living room which causes him to roll his eyes. Sehun then smiles down at the sleeping angel, gently placing her fluffy pink blanket over her. "Uncle Sehun is going to slap your daddy so hard that he'll fly into the next dimension," he whispers.

In her sleep, Nari's lips twitch up a little and Sehun covers his mouth to keep from laughing out loud. "That's my girl," he snickers.

Sehun then proceeds to grab a baby monitor, switch it on, then switch on the main one beside Nari's crib before heading back out to the living room and shutting Chanyeol's bedroom door behind him.

"Hey!" Sehun shouts suddenly as he reaches the couch, smacking Chanyeol's face.

Chanyeol jumps in surprise, his eyes opening up widely and a small scream escaping his lips. Once he realizes who is standing above him, he relaxes but still glares up at the figure. "What the hell was that for?"

"For you being an idiot." Sehun smiles while setting the baby monitor on the end table and plopping down on the couch cushions beside his boss.

"What? And where's Nari?" Chanyeol looks around the room.

"I put her in her crib." Sehun sighs, "You know it's really not safe to fall asleep with a four month old baby laying on you. Especially on a couch! You could've rolled onto your side and she would've fallen onto the ground! Or worse, you could've rolled on the other side and suffocated her by the cushions!"

Chanyeol yawns and rubs his tired eyes. "I know, I know. I'm sorry. I'm just so sleepy because I was up and down with her all night."

"It's Saturday, are you going anywhere with Baekhyun today?"

"Later on. I'm dropping Nari off at Minseok's place before going to Baekhyun's. I think Minseok is going to keep her until tomorrow morning because Baekhyun mentioned something Tuesday about staying the night with him." Chanyeol answers, finally sitting up. He grabs his jacket that's hanging over the back of the couch.

"Ooh. Staying the night?" Sehun teases. "Your first time?"

"Huh?"

"Is this your first time actually staying the night with him?"

"Oh," Chanyeol puts a hand in one of the jacket pockets, searching around. "Yeah."

"Have you guys had sex yet?"

Chanyeol rolls his eyes, then sticks his hand in the other pocket. "Oh please, like I'm going to tell you."

"I take that as a no." Sehun frowns. "Makes sense. You've been oddly stressed out lately. You definitely need to get laid tonight."

Chanyeol groans, partially because of Sehun and partially because of the lack of the piece of paper in his pockets. "Shut up."

"What are you looking for, blue balls?" Sehun laughs.

"I told you to shut up." Chanyeol sighs. "And I made a grocery list last weekend with all the stuff I need to pick up for Nari but now I can't find it. I think I remember most of the things that were on it though so hopefully I can manage."

"Okay." Sehun then turns seriously. "But honestly, when was the last time you had sex?"

"Oh my god, Sehun. It doesn't matter!" Chanyeol huffs, chucking the jacket on the floor and laying back down.

"I'm just curious!" Sehun pauses for a second then gasps. "Wait, the last person you got it on with was Cha Eun. So a little over four months ago? I'm right, aren't I? I mean, you probably didn't have sex with her when she was nine months pregnant."

Chanyeol groans a little, deciding to give up. "Actually you're wrong. I've only had sex with Cha Eun once and that was when I got her pregnant."

Sehun nearly shrieks and his eyes grow comically wide, "What?! You haven't had sex for a year and one month?!"

"Has it been that long?" Chanyeol just shrugs.

"Oh my. Nine months of pregnancy and four months of baby. A year and one month. What even. I respected you a lot but now I respect you five times more! Why didn't you keep doing it with Cha Eun? You lived at her parents' house with her for the first couple months of pregnancy! Golden opportunities, man!"

Again, Chanyeol rolls his eyes. "Sehun, I don't know if you know this but I'm gay. I am not attracted to girls. I like guys."

"Oh please, if you like guys so much then how is Nari yours?"

"A shit ton of alcohol and resentment towards my mother, that's how." Chanyeol frowns. "Cha Eun and I weren't dating or in love or anything. She was a girl I met at a bar just after my mom made me break up with a guy I had been dating. I was a mess, decided to drown my feelings with alcohol, and ended up in a bed with a girl. It was supposed to be a one night stand but a month later, I opened my door to the same girl telling me that she was pregnant and I was the father."

"Why haven't you ever told me this? I didn't know that you guys weren't an actual thing!"

Chanyeol shrugs for the second time. "I didn't think it was that important, plus, Cha Eun's parents wanted me to take full responsibility for my actions and marry her. I didn't have the heart to tell them that I was gay."

"So then how do you know Nari is actually yours?"

"I'm not an idiot, Sehun. I had a DNA test done. I barely knew the girl beforehand, it was just a few flirty words from her then we did our business in a hotel room. That's it. Of course I didn't believe her when she told me! She tracked me down to find my apartment so I thought she just wanted my money." Chanyeol retorts. "But then once I realized that my whole life was going to change because of parenthood, Cha Eun and I became good friends. So it still upsets me when I think about her death. She was a great friend and the mother of my baby, it's so tragic how she left this world."

"Yes it is," Sehun's facial expression becomes sullen. "She was a very nice woman."

There's a second of silence before Sehun is speaking again.

"So you're going to finally get some action, right? It seems pretty inevitable you know! Baekhyun was the one who asked you to stay the night with him!"

Chanyeol internally face palms. "Baekhyun and I haven't even made out. I'm not really expecting to get laid."

"Chanyeol!" Sehun whines. "You're a grown man and you haven't even made out with your boyfriend of almost a month! I'm disappointed in you."

"It's not that big of a deal," Chanyeol sighs. "It just shows that I like him for him and not for his body."

"Yeol," Sehun crosses his arms. "You have told him about Nari, haven't you?"

Chanyeol freezes for a second. "Um - about that.."

"Park Chanyeol! What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"I'm going to tell him soon! I-It's just - something came up last weekend and now I think it'd be best to wait a little longer.."

"You truly are the biggest idiot that I've ever known." Sehun grumbles. "Whatever. Do what you want. Just don't come crying to me if he dumps your sorry ass once he finds out. Let's just gather up Nari and go to the grocery store already, okay?"

-

"You made it." Baekhyun breathes out, a bright smile splaying across his lips.

"I made it." Chanyeol smiles back.

"Uh, come in." Baekhyun blinks away the small trance they were stuck in, opening the door further so Chanyeol can step in. "I was just about to start cooking dinner."

"Ooh. I wasn't expecting a home cooked meal!" Chanyeol chuckles. "I'm pleasantly surprised."

"Okay, dork." Baekhyun giggles. "Would you like to help me make it?"

"Sure, what's on the menu?" Chanyeol asks, following Baekhyun into the kitchen.

"I just bought stuff to make spaghetti, homemade garlic bread, and salad." Baekhyun explains, opening up his pantry and getting out an apron.

"Sounds delicious." Chanyeol responds as he watches Baekhyun tie the fabric around his waist. The tall male eyes him up and down. "You look absolutely adorable."

Baekhyun blushes a little before heading over to the ingredients on the granite counter. "Thanks. Let's get started, okay?"

"Okay, my cutie." Chanyeol sings out.

As they wait for the water to start boiling for the spaghetti noodles, Baekhyun begins mixing the ingredients to make the garlic bread into a large bowl. Yeast, flour, sugar, water, and salt. Baekhyun washes his hands then sticks them in the bowl, wrapping his fingers around the gooey mixture and starting to knead it.

"You know, we should watch a bunch of movies since I'm staying here until tomorrow. We can have an all-nighter." Chanyeol says happily, pouring the spaghetti noodles into the now boiling water then turning down the burner's heat to medium so it will simmer.

Baekhyun doesn't respond, because he is too immersed in what he is doing, squishing the dough between his fingers. When a pair of strong arms wrap around him from behind, his heart almost bursts.

"Here, you do it like this." Chanyeol whispers, his voice unnecessarily gravelly, his breath fanning over Baekhyun's neck.

The older puts his large hands over Baekhyun's thin ones and helps knead the dough, but Baekhyun's mind is elsewhere as their hands work together.

"I can do it. Why are y - "

He's interrupted by Chanyeol only scooting further, the taller resting his head on his shoulder. Chanyeol leads Baekhyun's hands in squishing the mixture inside of the bowl.

"I'm just helping you," Chanyeol breathes out, his head turning just a little bit, enough so that his lips are grazing the tan skin of Baekhyun's neck. "Don't be so tense."

"I-I'm not."

Baekhyun is painfully aware of Chanyeol's lips, so he tries his best to continue concentrating on the task that's in front of them. It's awfully hard to do this though as Chanyeol's warm exhales travel across his neck and Chanyeol's soft lips just barely touch his skin. Baekhyun feels as if he can't even take a normal breath. Why does this perfect man named Park Chanyeol have to exist? Let alone be right here back hugging him? He can't keep control of his heart.

There, they stand in the kitchen, no space between them as Chanyeol presses his chest against Baekhyun's back, trying to help with making the bread, their hearts beating rapidly in sync with each other.

"Chanyeol.."

"Yes?"

"It's done."

"Huh?"

"The dough, it's finished."

"Oh."

Chanyeol remains standing there though, breathing in Baekhyun's sweet scent, memorizing this moment and Baekhyun is frozen for a second. Chanyeol gains at least half of his senses back, so he takes his hands off of Baekhyun's and out of the bowl, resting them on the counter on either side of the shorter, trapping him there.

Baekhyun slowly turns around, still being trapped by Chanyeol's hands, palms splayed on the counter on each side of him. His breath hitches silently as he stares into Chanyeol's eyes, neither of them saying a word for a good, solid ten seconds as they soak in each other's presence.

"I haven't seen you since our little trip to your apartment building's laundromat on Monday. How have you been?" Chanyeol asks quietly, never breaking eye contact.

Baekhyun flashes a tiny grin. "Alright. But I've missed you like crazy."

Before either of them knows it, Chanyeol is leaning in. His face gets closer and closer, the light getting dimmer in front of Baekhyun because of the older's head. When Chanyeol's nose brushes against his, he tilts his head slightly and his eyes flutter closed. Just as he closes them, a loud beeping noise makes them both jolt and open their eyes.

Baekhyun clears his throat, but Chanyeol just smirks a little. "The noodles are ready," he whispers, his face still so close that his breath is hitting Baekhyun's lips.

In one swift movement, Chanyeol lowers one arm from the counter to reach over and turn the burner off before returning his arm back to its original spot.

"We should put the bread in the oven." Baekhyun mumbles quietly, a light shade of pink traveling up to his ears.

Chanyeol nods but leans in the rest of the way to finally connect their lips. Baekhyun tentatively wraps his two hands around the back of Chanyeol's neck as he starts moving his lips slowly.

Chanyeol smiles into the kiss a little while slowly trailing his hands down the sides of Baekhyun's curvy figure, running his warm fingers along the fabric of Baekhyun's clothing. Baekhyun grips his hands tighter on Chanyeol's neck, lips half parted as he responds to the kisses.

After what seems like a while, Chanyeol ends up pushing Baekhyun against the cabinets with his body. The latter doesn't seem to mind much as he keeps on kissing the taller, tilting his head a bit more to the side as their mouth movements get a bit more heated.

As soon as Chanyeol gets the urge to deepen the kiss even further, he stops himself. He breaks their kiss and rests his forehead on Baekhyun's instead. He doesn't want to risk anything or cross any lines. "Let's finish dinner now, then we should watch some movies," he whispers with a loving smile.

With a flustered facial expression and an equally as loving smile, Baekhyun nods in agreement and helps Chanyeol put the bread pan in the oven when they split apart.


	12. 11

It takes a second for Baekhyun to realize that someone is knocking on his front door. Having just woke up because of it, his sleepy eyes look around the room. The tv is still on from one of the movies that Chanyeol and him were watching earlier. He then glances down to his lap, the head of a sleeping Chanyeol laying on it.

Chanyeol is so cute when he's sleeping.

Baekhyun yawns and slips out from underneath Chanyeol's weight on his lap. His escape is rather unsuccessful though because Chanyeol wakes up, his eyes squinted slightly as he whines out a small, "Where are you going?"

"Someone is at the door." Baekhyun answers tiredly.

"Huh?" Chanyeol blinks his eyes multiple times to get the blurriness out of them before checking his phone for the time. "But it's two in the morning."

Baekhyun shrugs and the knocking only gets louder so he walks around the couch to look out the peephole. "Oh, it's Kyungsoo."

"What is he doing here so late?" Chanyeol whines again, laying back down on the couch and shoving his face in the cushions.

Baekhyun ignores the childish whines from his boyfriend while unlocking the door and swinging it open. He immediately notices the uneasy aura coming from the male.

"Baekhyun.." Kyungsoo breathes out, his voice holding an underlying tone of pure sadness.

Baekhyun isn't much for physical interactions but as soon as Kyungsoo says his name in such a broken manner, he's stepping forward and giving Kyungsoo a big hug. The small guy starts crying softly into Baekhyun's neck.

"What's wrong, Kyungsoo? Why are you here at this time of night?" Baekhyun asks gently, only hugging him tighter upon hearing his quiet cries.

"Jongin and I got into a big fight and he kicked me out." Kyungsoo pulls back, his eyelashes and cheeks wet with tears. "I-I didn't know where else to go so I came here. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize," Baekhyun grabs his arm and leads him inside. "You're always welcome here."

Kyungsoo freezes when he sees Chanyeol, who has sat up to see what all the commotion is about, and frantically wipes his tears away with a small yelp. "I'm really sorry, I didn't know Chanyeol was here. I can leave."

Baekhyun gives a quick glance to Chanyeol, then back to Kyungsoo. "I said don't apologize. You're fine. You can stay here for as long as you need."

Kyungsoo stays quiet, staring down at his shoes before slowly taking them off. "Thank you," he mumbles.

Baekhyun finally notices the droplets of water dripping from Kyungsoo's black hair and his soaked clothes. "Is it raining?"

Kyungsoo nods. "It's pouring."

Baekhyun makes a little sound of sympathy before shaking his head. "This won't do. C'mon I'll let you borrow some of my clothes."

Baekhyun takes Kyungsoo into his room before going over to his dressers and pulling out a tshirt and some sweatpants. He hands them to the shivering male with a small smile. "I'll let you change, okay?"

Kyungsoo nods then Baekhyun walks out, closing the door behind him. He goes into the living room.

"I'm going to have to ask you to get up." Baekhyun states quietly.

Chanyeol yawns while standing up, watching curiously as Baekhyun pulls the cushions off of the couch. "What are you doing?"

Baekhyun reaches down and pulls out the bed that was hiding underneath. "Getting the couch bed ready for Kyungsoo."

"Do you need help with anything?"

"No," Baekhyun retorts.

After the bed is fully laid out, Baekhyun walks into the hallway and opens his linen closet. He pulls out a thick blanket and a pillow before heading back and setting them down on the bed just in time for Kyungsoo to walk out, wet clothes in hand.

"You can sleep on the couch bed." Baekhyun walks up to the sullen looking male. "I'll put your wet clothes in the bathtub for now. You get some sleep, alright? It's late. We can talk in the morning if you need to just get some sleep first."

Kyungsoo nods, the soft lamp light illuminating in his glassy eyes. "Thank you, Baekhyun. You're a great friend."

"It's not a problem," Baekhyun smiles sympathetically and takes the wet pile of fabric from Kyungsoo's arms. "We'll be in my room if you need anything."

The grateful male bids the two a distraught sounding goodnight as they walk out, Chanyeol turning the tv and lamp off before following behind Baekhyun.

Once Baekhyun is finished putting Kyungsoo's clothes in his bathtub, the couple goes into Baekhyun's room and shuts the door behind them.

"I'm going to call Jongin." Chanyeol lets out a soft sigh.

Baekhyun nods. "Okay, and you don't have to stay here if you don't want to. I just thought since we fell asleep on the couch earlier that you'd want to go back to bed."

"I do want to go back to bed." Chanyeol chuckles a little bit. "But are you comfortable with us sleeping on one bed? If you aren't then I can leave."

"I'm okay with it." Baekhyun smiles a little. He then realizes that they're both still in normal clothes. "But I'm going to change into pajamas while you call Jongin."

The smaller goes over to his dresser and pulls out a baggy tshirt and pajama pants. The ones he wore Monday when him and Chanyeol went to the laundromat downstairs. He flashes Chanyeol another small smile before going into his bathroom and shutting the door to get changed.

Meanwhile, Chanyeol dials Jongin's number.

"Hello?" A gravelly voice answers.

"Hey, Jongin. Sorry I'm calling so late." Chanyeol starts. "I was just wondering, is everything okay? Because I'm over at Baekhyun's and Kyungsoo just came."

Chanyeol hears a deep sigh come from the other line. "I'm just having some family problems right now and I've been super stressed so I lashed out on him. I wasn't expecting him to get mad at me for acting like that so it only made me more angry. I kicked him out."

"Jongin, you should apologize." Chanyeol scolds. "He came to Baekhyun's apartment soaking wet from rain and crying."

"It's raining?" Jongin gasps a little. "Oh my god, I'm an idiot. Is he okay?"

"He's fine. Baekhyun gave him a change of clothes and pulled out a couch bed for him. He's probably almost asleep."

"Okay, then I'll try to call him in the morning." Jongin says defeatedly. "I'm so stupid."

"We all make mistakes."

"I guess so. Thanks for calling, you should go to sleep. Sorry for causing Kyungsoo to interrupt you and Baekhyun's time together."

"No, it's alright. We were asleep. Just make up with Kyungsoo quickly, alright?"

"Okay, goodnight."

"Night, Jongin."

After he hangs up, he decides to sit on the edge of Baekhyun's mattress and wait for him. A couple minutes pass and Chanyeol starts to wonder what is taking Baekhyun so long.

He sighs a little. He's so tired.

A couple more minutes go by and Chanyeol decides to check if Baekhyun is alright. He goes out and stands in front of the bathroom door, raising his hand to knock on it. Before he can, Baekhyun opens the door with a strange facial expression showing.

Chanyeol steps back. "Are you alright? You took awhile."

"I'm fine." Baekhyun says, his words awfully quiet.

Chanyeol looks to him quizzically. "Are you sure?"

"Mhm."

"Okay, well then should we go back to sleep now?"

Baekhyun raises his arm to hold an unfolded piece of paper in front of the tall male. "You dropped this Monday," he ignores Chanyeol's question.

Chanyeol's eyes widen as he looks at his lost grocery list clutched tightly in Baekhyun's hand. All of a sudden his throat goes dry. "B-Baek - "

Baekhyun interrupts him. "Care to explain why there are multiple items on this list that are for babies?"


	13. 12

Baekhyun sighs a little as he shuts the bathroom door behind him. He can vaguely hear Chanyeol talking to Jongin on the phone. Looking in the mirror at his reflection, he ruffles his hair and sets the articles of clothing he is holding down onto the counter.

As he starts to take off his shirt, Baekhyun starts to wonder what Kyungsoo and Jongin fought about. He has never seen Kyungsoo so upset about something. He hopes that the two will sort everything out. And soon.

Pushing the thoughts away, he starts shedding his jeans. Then he puts on the baggy tshirt that he grabbed from his dresser before grabbing the pair of pajama pants. The same ones from Monday. Once he slips them on, something pokes his thigh through the fabric of the pocket.

Baekhyun's forehead crinkles a little when he furrows his eyebrows in confusion. He reaches his hand in the pocket and pulls out a piece of paper that is folded over.

Oh, it's the paper that fell out of Chanyeol's jacket Monday.

Baekhyun walks over to the small trash can that is sitting by the toilet and bends over to throw the paper away but it falls open a little bit and he sees the words 'Chanyeol's grocery list'. He stops and stands back up straight because he figures that Chanyeol might want the paper back. Not thinking much of it, he opens it and starts reading.

Chanyeol's Grocery List:  
1\. Toilet paper  
2\. Bottle warmer  
3\. 4-6 month diapers  
4\. Frozen meals  
5\. Crib mobile  
6\. Crinkle toys  
7\. Apples  
8\. Wine  
9\. Baby gym  
10\. Baby lotion  
11\. Baby Powder  
12\. Wet wipes  
13\. Green peppers  
14\. Shaving cream  
15\. Pacifiers

Baekhyun's heart starts racing in fear at the words in front of him. Bottle warmer? Diapers? Crib mobile? Toys? Baby? Baby? _Baby_..

His hands start shaking a little bit. Surely there's a reasonable explanation for this. Right? Chanyeol couldn't possibly be –

No, that's silly. Chanyeol would've told him such an important thing, wouldn't he? Baekhyun takes a deep breath.

Shakily, Baekhyun opens the door with a strange facial expression showing. He needs to ask Chanyeol about this list. Maybe Chanyeol was just helping Minseok with that baby girl that he watches. Yes, that's probably it. He lifts his head to find Chanyeol standing right outside of the bathroom door with his arm raised.

Chanyeol steps back and puts his arm down. "Are you alright? You took awhile."

"I'm fine." Baekhyun says, his words awfully quiet.

Chanyeol looks to him quizzically. "Are you sure?"

"Mhm."

"Okay, well then should we go back to sleep now?"

Baekhyun raises his arm to hold an unfolded piece of paper in front of the tall male. "You dropped this Monday," he ignores Chanyeol's question.

Chanyeol's eyes widen as he looks at his lost grocery list clutched tightly in Baekhyun's hand. All of a sudden his throat goes dry. "B-Baek - "

Baekhyun interrupts him. "Care to explain why there are multiple items on this list that are for babies?"

"About that..."

"Well..?"

There is a long, silent pause before Chanyeol's face suddenly contorts into a defeated expression and his shoulders slump. "I'm sorry, Baekhyun. There is something that I have to tell you and I don't know why I have been so hesitant in telling you and frankly I won't blame you if you become angry with me because I've lied to you b-but I really think you need to know."

Baekhyun purses his lips and averts his gaze from Chanyeol's. He holds his breath while chanting in his brain; _please don't say it, please don't say it._

"I have a baby."

Baekhyun grimaces. He said it. Chanyeol said the words that Baekhyun was ultimately waiting for but didn't want to hear. Overwhelmed by the sudden news, the short brunette takes a small step backwards, hitting the back of his foot against the bathroom's doorframe. He winces but nothing can distract him from this situation.

Then he realizes. This must be Chanyeol's imperfection. Baekhyun had wondered why everything about Chanyeol just screamed perfection, it was too weird.

Chanyeol is a liar.

He lied.

He has a child.

As soon as Baekhyun steps backward with a sense of hurt written all over his face, Chanyeol takes a step forward. This action only causes Baekhyun to take another step backward but he doesn't step sideways into the doorway, he just presses his back against the wall instead. For a second, he kind of wishes the wall would swallow him.

"Baekhyun.." Chanyeol starts, "Please say something."

"P-Please tell me you're joking."

Chanyeol frowns. "I'm sorry."

"You're a liar."

"I know I am, Baekhyun, but - "

"But what? Did you really expect me to be _okay_ with this?" Baekhyun bleats. He finally looks at Chanyeol square in the face.

Chanyeol stands there in shame and this time he is the one who averts his gaze.

"Just take your dumb list, alright? I don't want it." Baekhyun spits out, crumpling the grocery list and shoving it harshly against Chanyeol's chest.

The tall male doesn't take it so when Baekhyun withdraws his hand, the wad of paper falls to the carpeted floor.

"I don't even know what to say." Baekhyun mutters sadly. "I-I trusted you. I told you about the most important, most depressing, hardest thing about myself but you betrayed me. Do you possibly know how much that _hurts_? We've known each other for almost two and a half months and you never thought to mention the fact that you have a baby? Is the baby that unimportant in your life that you just _forgot_ to mention it to me?"

"I'm sorry, Baekhyun. I'm so sorry."

"Are you sorry that you didn't tell me or sorry that you got caught?"

"I - "

"It's because you got caught. Obviously you weren't sorry about it enough to tell me so you're only sorry because you got caught."

"That's not true, Baekhyun! Just listen - "

"When exactly were you planning to tell me?" Baekhyun interrupts.

"Soon, I was going to tell you soon I swear! But then Monday you told me about your schizophrenia and so I didn't want to - "

Baekhyun cuts off Chanyeol with a slap across the face. A _hard_ slap. The sound resonates throughout the silent hallway and Chanyeol stares at Baekhyun in shock, his cheek tinted a stinging pink. The tall guy almost doesn't believe that that just happened.

And Baekhyun almost wants to apologize upon looking at the out-and-out expression of horror on Chanyeol's face. But he doesn't, instead, a couple tears run down his cheeks.

"You don't trust me because of my schizophrenia? This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you about it in the first place! This is exactly why you should've just left when I said I didn't want to continue our relationship! Do you possibly know how difficult it is to have a mental illness and depend so much on another person?!"

"I do trust you! Baekhyun, I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you. I really don't even have a good reason for lying! I just didn't want to lose you. Y-You're the second best thing that has happened to me in a long time. Please. Please don't be angry with me."

"Second best?" Baekhyun scoffs. "Don't be angry? Are you hearing yourself right now, Park Chanyeol? If you trust me so much then why didn't you tell me? You pity me, don't you?"

"What's so wrong with a little sympathy, Baekhyun?"

"A-Are you being fucking serious right now?" Baekhyun clenches his fists. "I don't want to be pitied by the person that I like the most! I just want to feel loved!"

"Okay, yeah. I lied to you. Do I regret it? Yes. A whole lot. But does it mean that I don't like you as much as you like me? No. So please don't think that! My daughter was an accident! An accident but I still love her! More than anything in this world! And I-I like you so much, I don't want to lose you. Or my baby. I don't want to lose either of you. I'm sorry. I made a big mistake. I'm sorry."

Baekhyun falls silent and in that moment, a figure appears beside them from the darkness of the hallway.

"Baekhyun? What's going on?"

Baekhyun wipes his tears really fast and sniffles, turning to look at Kyungsoo. "Nothing, Soo. Chanyeol was just leaving."

Chanyeol steps forward a little, reaching out to touch Baekhyun's arm. "Baekhy - "

"I said that you're leaving." Baekhyun glares at him, harshly yanking his arm away. "This is my apartment, I suggest you leave before I call the police."

"Police?" Kyungsoo asks groggily, "Wait, Baekhyun. He looks upset. Don't be so harsh on him."

Chanyeol just shakes his head. "N-No, Kyungsoo. I deserve it. I'll be going now."

With that, he quickly walks past Kyungsoo and Baekhyun into the darkness of the living room. Baekhyun would be lying if he said he didn't completely break down into tears when Chanyeol says a quiet, "I love you, Baekhyun," before closing the front door behind him.

And leaving.


	14. 13

A week passes like that, Chanyeol so swamped with work that he never has had time to check if Baekhyun is at work or even go to his apartment to try and talk things out with him. The manager has been frequently texting and calling the brunette instead but to no avail, Baekhyun has been purposefully ignoring the attempts of communication.

The younger is avoiding him with good reason but Chanyeol can't help but feel like he needs to have a chance to explain everything.

During the second week after their big blowout, Chanyeol finally gets the chance to talk to Baekhyun again, but not really in the way he'd like to – at work and during a crisis.

It all starts off with a phone call. Chanyeol is sitting behind his desk, his nose stuck in his mounds of work all the while distracting himself from his relationship issues, and Sehun is slacking off by mindlessly flipping through a magazine. The latter's phone starts ringing. He answers it lazily.

"Hello? Kyungsoo, what's up? Huh?"

Chanyeol hears Sehun talking but doesn't really register the words because he is too preoccupied with work and frankly he doesn't care at all about Sehun's social life. That is until Baekhyun's name is mentioned.

"Baekhyun is what? Slow down a little."

Chanyeol's head immediately shoots up to find out what is going on. He looks at Sehun and says firmly, "Put it on speaker."

Sehun nods and scrambles to quickly put the call on speaker, Kyungsoo's somewhat frantic voice instantly booming throughout the office.

"Baekhyun is not acting like himself! He's making a scene! I don't know. I-I just don't know what to do."

"What are you talking about?" Sehun questions.

Chanyeol and Sehun hear a distinctive sigh from the male, then he continues. "It's one of our coworker's birthday today so to celebrate she got us all cupcakes. As soon as a cupcake was placed in front of Baekhyun, he refused to touch it so being a friend, I asked him why. Now he's shaking and crying, mumbling repeatedly about how the cupcake is a sign that someone is out to get him. All because someone put a cupcake on his desk! And on top of that, people keep asking him if he's alright but he just shouts at them to get away from him!"

"But how am I supposed to know what to do?" Sehun mutters.

"Agh, I don't know! I know Chanyeol and him aren't on the best terms right now but there's gotta be something he can do for Baekhyun, right?" Kyungsoo pleads.

Chanyeol and Sehun's ears suddenly pick up the sound of Baekhyun's sobs in the background. Chanyeol, at a loss for what to do, blinks a couple times as Sehun gazes at him expectantly. It has to be the schizophrenia making Baekhyun act like this but Chanyeol just doesn't understand. Isn't Baekhyun on medicine? Isn't the medicine supposed to prevent people from having strong symptoms?

"Tell Kyungsoo to bring Baekhyun in here." Chanyeol says to Sehun.

Once Sehun hangs up, Chanyeol starts putting all of his work away. He puts all the manila folders on his desk into his briefcase, all the supplies into his desk drawers; pencils, highlighters, and so on, then he closes his laptop before putting that into his briefcase as well. Sehun watches him in confusion.

"Why are you packing up? Is it because Baekhyun is acting so weird?"

Chanyeol looks up with a strange emotion swirling in his eyes, "He is not weird! Don't say that! Don't even think it!"

"Woah, alright. No need to get so defensive." Sehun retorts, holding his hands up in front of his torso.

Chanyeol sighs. "I'm sorry, it's just that Baekhyun means so much to me and - "

Their conversation is interrupted by Chanyeol's office door swinging open. No knock. No indication that someone is coming in. Chanyeol watches as Kyungsoo walks in with his hand on Baekhyun's arm, leading him in as well. The brunette has pale skin so the tall manager can only assume that it is all his fault and feel guilty. Baekhyun has to deal with his schizophrenia on top of suffering due to finding out that Chanyeol has a child.

Baekhyun's face is still wet with tears and his eyes are still red but he doesn't seem to be crying at the moment.

"You two need to leave for a little while." Chanyeol says to Sehun and Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo just curtly shakes his head.

Chanyeol exasperates his dislike for this action, "Please go."

"Baekhyun is my best friend, I'm not going anywhere."

"Yeah and _I'm_ not leaving because I want to know what's going on!" Sehun protests.

Chanyeol decides not to start an argument with Kyungsoo but that doesn't stop him from giving Sehun a nasty glare. "Get out, Sehun. I'm your boss. Do what I say. Now."

Sehun frowns and reluctantly grabs his stuff before leaving the room, closing the wooden door behind him.

As soon as Sehun is gone, Chanyeol turns his focus onto the short brunette. "Baekhyun," he takes a step closer, really unsure of what else to do. "Can you tell me why you are so upset?"

Baekhyun blinks a couple times before lifting his hand and pointing his index finger towards Kyungsoo. "Jongin told me he heard Kyungsoo talking about how he is going to break up with him. In the park. At five o'clock sharp."

Kyungsoo snaps his head to the right and narrows his gaze on Baekhyun. "What the hell are you talking about? I've never said anything about breaking up with him! Especially in a park!"

"Don't get angry at him!" Chanyeol exclaims.

"And why the hell can't I?" Kyungsoo turns his head back to look at Chanyeol. "Can you please explain to me what is going on here? Because you seem so neutral about this! Why is he acting like this? Why won't he answer any of my questions with normal answers? Why does he keep saying weird things?! It's making me so frustrated!"

Chanyeol looks back and forth between an aggravated looking Kyungsoo and a lost looking Baekhyun before closing his eyes for a second and letting out a deep sigh. "This is exactly why I asked you to leave in the first place, Kyungsoo. I'm not in the position to tell you anything. I'm sorry."

Kyungsoo's facial expression contorts into something similar to a mix of frustration and utter confusion. He hesitates but finally drops his hand from Baekhyun's arm. "Fine, I'll go. Just - don't break his heart again, alright?"

Chanyeol nods slightly and watches in silence as Kyungsoo takes a worried glance at Baekhyun before exiting the office. After the short male is gone, Chanyeol wracks his brain for what to do. Clearly, Baekhyun isn't in the state to work right now. The tall male walks up to Baekhyun and leads him to the couch in the corner of the room.

"Just sit here for a minute, alright?"

Baekhyun nods. "I'm sitting." Then, his eyes widen. "I-I need to go," he jumps up and starts sprinting for the door, only to be caught by Chanyeol's arms.

"Woah, calm down. Why?"

"I left a cake in the oven!"

"Baekhyun," Chanyeol says sternly. He pauses. He shouldn't deny everything that Baekhyun says, right? It might make matters worse. He decides to deny Baekhyun's words in a subtle way instead. "You already took the cake out of the oven, remember?"

Baekhyun visibly relaxes. "Oh yeah. You're right, I did." He slips out of Chanyeol's arms and turns to sit back down on the couch.

Chanyeol sighs in relief. It worked. He pulls out his phone and dials Minseok's number. After a few rings, the older picks up.

"Hello?"

"Minseok, hey, I hate to ask you this but can you keep Nari overnight? There's been an emergency."

"Hm."

"Please? I'll pay you."

"It's not the money I'm worried about, Yeol. You know, you really need to spend more time with your daughter. She isn't going to be this little forever and I'm just afraid that you might miss some of her important firsts if you keep working and going out so much. I don't mind watching her at all, she's precious but I'm saying you're a parent now. And I know this is probably a bad time to talk with you about this but you are all Nari has. She doesn't have a mom to love on her when you are working or going out on dates with Baekhyun. She has me. I'm not blood. Please just consider it thoroughly before spending extra time away from her."

Chanyeol's heart starts pounding wildly with worry for Nari and Baekhyun. "Thank you, Minseok. I know. She's my little girl. I promise to start being a more mature, responsible parent. I just really need you today."

"Okay, I'll keep her overnight for you. You're a good dad, Yeol. Don't ever think that you aren't. You just need to be a bit more responsible and sacrificing."

Those words strike a pretty hefty chord within Chanyeol's body. His eyes finally open to the realization of just how irresponsible he actually is. He's been lying to Baekhyun, he's been disregarding his own daughter by spending so much time with Baekhyun, he's been actually hiding his own flesh and blood from Baekhyun with the assumption that it would help Baekhyun to actually stay by his side.

His heart truly starts aching. It's been two weeks and he hasn't even really realized how serious of a matter this is until now. What an idiot he is.

"Thank you, Minseok. I-I'll be going now." Chanyeol rushes before hanging up the phone.

His heart just breaks even more upon looking at the person he loves, the person that he has lied to, laying in front of him. He is a liar.

Baekhyun had fallen asleep on Chanyeol's leather couch while he was talking on the phone. With all of the research Chanyeol has done on schizophrenia in his spare time, he guesses that Baekhyun didn't get enough sleep last night. Maybe because of anxiety, maybe because of hallucinations, he doesn't know. All he knows is that he hates to see Baekhyun having to deal with something so hard that will never go away.

He sighs as his mind goes back to their very first date. Baekhyun was clearly a nervous wreck but he was still charming. A slightly awkward kind of charming. It was endearing to Chanyeol. It was a fresh breath of air. Baekhyun is just too good of a person. Of course, the younger has his own set of flaws but so does everyone else in this world.

Chanyeol wants to slap himself. Why did he think that it'd be okay to lie about something so huge? A child. He lied about his own child. To someone who has trusted him more than anyone. He groans inwardly at the thought. He will try his best to make it right but right now he needs to focus on Baekhyun's mental health.

Suddenly, an idea pops into his head. He strides over to the sleeping brunette and starts searching through his pant pockets. His hand hits something hard. Bingo. Baekhyun's cell phone. He pulls the device out slowly, careful not to wake Baekhyun in the process.

Thankfully the younger doesn't have a passcode. Chanyeol unlocks the phone and goes into Baekhyun's call history. The last person Baekhyun called was his mom and it was yesterday.

Without much thought, Chanyeol taps the phone icon beside Baekhyun's mother's contact name then puts the device up to his ear. Not much longer, a woman answers.

"Baekhyun! Is everything going alright?"

Chanyeol clears his throat and starts walking back to his desk, not wanting to wake Baekhyun up by talking right beside him. "Hello, Mrs. Byun?"

"I am her but this is my son's phone. Who am I speaking to?"

"I am Park Chanyeol, a friend of Baekhyun's. I just have a couple questions."

"Is he hurt? Did you do anything to him?" She asks frantically.

"No, ma'am. I would never do anything to hurt him." Chanyeol internally sighs. That's another big, fat lie. He has already hurt Baekhyun. "But I am aware of his mental disorder and he is in a very unstable condition right now. I saw that he called you yesterday and I wanted to ask if you know anything."

Baekhyun's mom goes silent for a minute before answering quietly. "My baby is okay, right? You said he isn't in a stable condition? D-Does that mean that he hurt himself?"

Chanyeol assumes that Baekhyun's mother is worried that Baekhyun will commit suicide just like her sister did. "No! Please don't worry. He is asleep on my office couch right now. Another friend of ours, who doesn't know anything about his illness, brought him to me because he was causing a scene while they were working."

She sighs in relief at the news of her son being alive. Then she hesitates a bit before replying, "Well, he told me yesterday that in the morning he went to the pharmacy to refill his medicine but they informed him that the insurance had stopped paying for that brand of antipsychotic. He said that he can't afford to buy it himself so he contacted his doctor and the doctor prescribed him a new medication that the insurance would cover. Apparently the new medication either isn't working properly or he hasn't taken it yet. Sometimes those types of medicines take a few days to be filled in a pharmacy and it was such a last minute switch."

"Okay, so if the new medicine isn't in yet, what can I do for him until it is?"

"Just please watch over him for me, please. I couldn't bear anything happening to him. Do you know how scary it is to live a couple hours away from him? Every time my phone rings, I pray that it will not be a death notification. I know that he can be hard to handle when he isn't on medication but please stay by his side until he gets it figured out. I'll call his doctor to find out exactly what has happened."

"Don't worry, ma'am. I'll take care of him." Chanyeol assures her.

"Thank you so much. It means the world."

Chanyeol gives the lady his phone number so she can call him when she finds out about Baekhyun's medicine then they end the call.

Chanyeol will have to have a talk with Baekhyun's boss, Zhang Yixing to inform him that Baekhyun is unable to work for a few days.

The tall manager tucks Baekhyun's phone into his dress pants pocket and walks back over to Baekhyun's sleeping form. He bends down and gently scoops the brunette into his arms.

Baekhyun wakes up just barely, mumbling quiet rubbish and resting his head in the crook of Chanyeol's neck. He falls back asleep instantly with little snores that make Chanyeol momentarily forget about all the stressful events happening currently.

He is determined to be more responsible. For his two loves, Nari and the boy in his arms.

As he starts walking towards the door, Chanyeol whispers, "Let's get you home, Baekhyun. Everything is going to be just fine."

 


	15. 14

"Minseok! Come here!" Chanyeol shouts from his kitchen. "Hurry!"

"I was just grabbing my phone! Jesus!" Minseok laughs, barreling into the room with his phone in hand.

Chanyeol is going to be giving Nari solid food for the first time.

"I'm so excited but my heart hurts a lot." Chanyeol frowns. He flashes an unsure stare at Nari, who is smiling and playing in her bouncy chair all the while making cute little gurgles.

Chanyeol didn't want to put her in a high chair, he was too nervous.

"Why does your heart hurt?" Minseok questions. The older goes on the camera app on his phone, preparing to record this moment.

"Well, once I give her this food that means she's growing up already." Chanyeol's facial expression contorts into a conflicted one.

"She's a baby. She's supposed to grow up." Minseok gives him a reassuring smile. "She is your five month old, happy, healthy little baby. Shouldn't you be content?"

"I am! I am! It's just really difficult to believe that she's already been on this Earth for five months!" Chanyeol exclaims. "Oh my god! Minseok! Do you know what this means?"

"Not really...?"

"One more month and she'll be moving into her nursery! I don't think I'm ready for that yet! What if I can't hear her cry?" Chanyeol panics.

"You have a baby monitor, stupid. And her moving out of your room can be a good thing, right? You'll have more alone time." Minseok shrugs. "Are we going to talk all day? Nari is hungry and my phone is about to die."

"Don't rush me!" Chanyeol scowls. "This is a big moment for Nari and I!"

Minseok laughs. "Alright, whatever," he presses the record button and points his phone at Chanyeol. "What's on the menu, chef?"

Chanyeol chuckles and grabs the costume chef hat that he had foolishly prepared for this moment. He puts it on and then turns back to the camera, paper plate of Nari's food in his hands.

All of a sudden, Nari screams as if to tell Chanyeol to hurry this process up because she is starved. Chanyeol's eyes widen in shock but then he laughs. "Nari, you have to be patient! Daddy is getting filmed for an episode of his famous cooking show!" He jokes.

The tall male turns his attention back to the camera with a proud grin. "This evening I have prepared a highly advanced, highly exquisite cuisine for my most cherished loyal customer, Park Nari. The dish is completely original and has never been made before! I call it...puréed sweet potatoes!"

Minseok is trying not to crack up at how dramatic this whole event is but he finds it endearing because Chanyeol had told him a couple days ago that he wants to make silly videos and put them together on a disc so Nari can watch them when she is a teenager. Of course, it's Park Chanyeol so everything has to be extra.

Minseok cheers enthusiastically and Nari screams again, this time smiling afterwards. Chanyeol kneels down onto the hardwood floor in front of Nari's bouncy chair and places some sweet potato goop onto the little plastic tray. "For you, mademoiselle."

As expected, Nari has no idea what to do with the clump of potatoes. Chanyeol and Minseok watch eagerly as she grabs a fistful.

"Nari! Eat it! It's yummy!" Minseok coos.

Except, she just smiles and flings her fist towards Chanyeol, the orange colored mush getting all over his face and clothes. He lets out a surprised shriek which startles Nari and she flinches.

Chanyeol and Minseok burst out laughing upon hearing the little fart she releases. Confused about the men, Nari just gurgles happily. While laughing hysterically, Chanyeol wipes some of the sweet potato residue off of his eyes before cleaning his fingers with a napkin.

"Nari, I'll give you a bottle after you eat a couple bites! Okay?" Chanyeol smiles sweetly, scooping some of the mushy food up with his finger and hovering it in front of her mouth.

She opens her mouth and allows Chanyeol to put the potatoes in. He chuckles softly as Nari chews on them because it won't do anything seeing as she doesn't have any teeth yet.

The tall guy's heart swells with love as he watches his baby enjoy her first solid food and he thinks back to Minseok's words on the phone a couple days ago.

_"She isn't going to be this little forever and I'm just afraid that you might miss some of her important firsts if you keep working and going out so much."_

Chanyeol smiles at the sight of Nari getting the food in her hair and all over her face, getting lost in his thoughts. _See, Nari? I was here for this important first. I will be here for all of them, alright?_

After the feeding fiasco, Minseok offers to give Nari a bath while Chanyeol cleans up the kitchen.

"I still have to give her a bottle." Chanyeol states. "But go ahead and give her a bath first, you're the best."

Minseok rolls his eyes with the sticky baby in his arms. "I know I am."

Chanyeol chuckles lightly as he begins cleaning up. How can a tiny human such as Nari make such a big mess? Chanyeol sighs as he starts picking some now cold sweet potatoes off of Nari's bouncy chair.

He hums a quiet tune as he works, throwing the paper towels in the trash before deciding to take care of the stack of dishes piled in the sink. He rarely has time to do them so a lot of times the sink gets pretty full before Chanyeol can clean them. It doesn't help that he uses a lot of bottles.

Chanyeol hates doing dishes. Washing dishes is his absolute least favorite household chore. He sighs and puts on his lime green rubber gloves then turns the hot water on. He picks up a dirty bowl, lathering it with dish soap before rinsing it off and starting on the next dish.

It is on his sixth dish that his humming gets interrupted by his doorbell ringing. He glances to the clock on the stainless steel microwave that is on the countertop near him. It is nearly six in the evening on a Thursday night.

It most likely isn’t Sehun, the younger would’ve barged right into his apartment.

His neighbors? Maybe they accidentally picked up his mail?

Chanyeol takes off his household gloves and sets them beside the sink, turns off the kitchen faucet, then heads out towards his main foyer. He smiles a little upon hearing Minseok talking to Nari from inside the bathroom.

Swinging open his front door, his eyes widen greatly in astonishment at the unexpected visitor.

“Long time, no see, Chanyeol.”


	16. 15

Baekhyun stares blankly at the computer on his desk, the letters and numbers all forming an useless blob across the screen. He has been trying for hours but he just can't seem to focus.

It has been almost three weeks since Baekhyun found out about Chanyeol's secret child. As much as he hates to admit it, he misses the older's hugs and kisses so much. They haven't broken up but Baekhyun isn't quite sure where he wants the relationship to go quite yet. He has been contemplating on it since that fateful night about three weeks ago.

Baekhyun glances around the quiet office space in hopes to distract himself from his work for a moment before he gets too much of a headache. Staring at a computer screen for hours on end can make him feel sick, so he takes frequent, small breaks during the day.

"Thank god it's Friday, right?" Kyungsoo smiles a little, walking up with a paper cup in his hand. "I got you a hot chocolate from the cafeteria."

Baekhyun returns the smile weakly while accepting the hot drink. "Thanks."

"Welcome back, by the way." Kyungsoo says gently.

"Oh, c'mon, Kyungsoo," Baekhyun teases, an sad tone underlying his voice. "It's only been a couple days. You missed me that much?"

Kyungsoo clears his throat and looks down at the latte he got for himself in his hands. "You really worried me. Are you...alright? Did Chanyeol stay with you until everything got resolved?" He asks quietly.

"Did Chanyeol tell you? I mean – did he explain what really happened Monday?"

"No! Of course not! Don't worry about that," Kyungsoo reassures. "He didn't tell me anything, Sehun just told me that Chanyeol told him that he was going to stay with you until a certain medicine of yours got filled in the pharmacy and that he doesn't want to talk about it without your permission."

Baekhyun nods before taking a tiny sip of his drink. "Chanyeol did stay with me until yesterday morning. I'm sorry for worrying you. Everyone in the office has been giving me weird stares since I got here but I expected that."

"Hey, don't pay attention to it, okay? Other people's negative opinions shouldn't matter. You're an awesome person. Don't think otherwise, got it?" Kyungsoo says seriously.

Baekhyun chuckles and nods. "I-I'm sorry that I don't really feel comfortable telling y - "

"Ah! No. Don't you even go there. I don't need to know anything. I don't need to know what happened Monday, okay? Everything is water under the bridge and you can tell me if or when you feel comfortable enough."

"You're a great friend, Soo." Baekhyun grins.

"You bet I am." Kyungsoo laughs softly. "I better get back to work but get ahold of me if you need anything. See ya later!"

"Okay, see ya." Baekhyun waves him off. "Well all of these schedules aren't going to enter themselves into the calendar." The small male mutters to himself once Kyungsoo is gone.

He turns back to his work, sipping contentedly on his hot cocoa.

Not even ten minutes later, someone is scrabbling through one of the beige doors from the marketing department while calling out his name. Kind of startled by the sudden call of his name, Baekhyun turns his head.

Oh Sehun.

"Hi, Sehun." Baekhyun greets with an abashed smile.

He is embarrassed to see the people who witnessed him Monday after all.

"Chanyeol left your apartment yesterday morning, right? Have you seen or heard from him since then?" Sehun asks straightforwardly.

"Uh yes and no I haven't. Why?"

"Agh. It's already noon and he hasn't bothered to show up to work. He usually calls me if he's running this late." Sehun groans.

"D-Do you think that something is wrong?" Baekhyun mutters, worry growing in his chest.

"It's hard to tell." Sehun shrugs. The tall male's phone starts vibrating. "One second, Baekhyun," he pulls his phone out of his pocket to check the caller ID. "Why is Minseok calling?"

Baekhyun watches as concern flashes across Sehun's face, the guy answering the call.

"Hello? Minseok?"

Baekhyun leans closer to Sehun, listening in on the call. He can hear Minseok's frantic voice coming from the other line.

"Chanyeol didn't show up with Nari today so I-I came to his apartment to check on him but no one is answering the door a-and I can Nari screaming from inside! You have a key, right? I don't have one!"

Sehun's eyes widen. "I'm heading there now," he ends the call and starts walking briskly towards the main entrance.

Baekhyun, suddenly terrified about the lack of Chanyeol's appearance, grabs his coat and runs after Sehun, completely ditching his work.

Sehun doesn't even question it when Baekhyun gets into the passenger seat of his car, speeding away to Chanyeol's apartment.

Once they arrive, Sehun parks sloppily and the two scurry out of the car and into the apartment building. Baekhyun has never been to Chanyeol's place so he just follows Sehun like a lost, scared puppy.

Sehun scrambles for his set of keys as they approach the apartment. They find Minseok standing outside of the door with his eyes filled with tears. The two that just arrived can also hear the screams of a baby from inside the apartment.

"Minseok, what's wrong? It's going to be okay." Sehun consoles as he struggles to find the right key.

"I-I left him alone last night. I knew I shouldn't have. This is all my fault!" Minseok breathes out heavily.

"What do you mean?"

"His mom came last night. I-I wanted to give them privacy so I left."

Sehun's momentarily stops his key search. "What? His mother?"

Minseok nods. Baekhyun stands beside the two, thoroughly confused. Is Chanyeol's mother coming to see him a bad thing?

Sehun finally finds the key and unlocks the door. The three immediately push their way in. Baekhyun follows behind Minseok and Sehun, unfamiliar with this luxurious apartment. The sounds of a baby wailing is loud and it hurts Baekhyun's ears.

"I'll go get Nari." Minseok says worriedly, heading down the hallway.

Baekhyun continues following Sehun until they reach the living room. There they find Chanyeol, sitting on the couch while leaning back and staring up at the ceiling.

Baekhyun's eyes widen in horror at Chanyeol's physical appearance, the older's skin pale with dark circles rimming his eyes. While Baekhyun looks scared for this situation, Sehun seems anything but, going up to Chanyeol and smacking him repeatedly on the torso with a closed fist.

"Sehun, s-stop." Baekhyun stammers.

How could Sehun do such a thing? The angry male doesn't stop though, he just gets more aggressive upon hearing the continuous screams of the baby.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Sehun shouts. "I don't fucking care what happened to you last night, you never neglect your child! Why in the hell is she screaming like that?! Huh?! Answer me, Park Chanyeol!”

Chanyeol stays silent and unmoving as Sehun beats him.

“God, get it together! Why are you so irresponsible?! Nari should be your first priority! No matter what! She’s your daughter!” Sehun yells infuriately.

Minseok joins them in the living room with a crying Nari in his arms, rocking her in a desperate attempt to get her to calm down. “I don’t think she’s been fed since last night,” he says indignantly. “I’m going to kill him after I fix her a bottle.”

Baekhyun finds himself overwhelmed and clueless on how to handle this situation. He watches in a sad silence as Sehun continues to try and get a reaction out of Chanyeol and tries to drown out the heartbreaking cries of the baby.

“Baekhyun!”

Baekhyun is pulled from his thoughts to realize that Minseok has been trying to get his attention. “Y-Yes?”

“I know you’re worried about Chanyeol but I really need your help right now. Please follow me.”

Baekhyun nods and hesitantly does as told, following behind Minseok until they reach the kitchen.

“I need you to rock Nari while I make her a bottle.”

Baekhyun’s eyes widen. “U-Um..”

“Here, take her. Please.” Minseok pleads, his eyes frantic.

“B-But I - ” Baekhyun is interrupted by Minseok shoving Nari forward and he has no choice but to take her.

He holds her as far away from his body as possible, his arms straight out in front of him while staring at her with a leery manner. Minseok blinks in confusion but turns around to start making the bottle.

It takes a minute of Baekhyun standing with both of his arms as straight as arrows as he holds Nari for him to gradually bend his elbows, bringing her closer to his chest inch by inch as he does so. Nervously, he pulls her against his chest as she continues to cry out.

“M-Minseok, I’m not hurting her, am I?” Baekhyun stutters.

Minseok takes a glance back at the obviously stiff Baekhyun, who has a look of fear on his face while he cradles the baby in his arms. “No. I think she’s crying because she is hungry. Can you rock her?”

“O-Okay.” Baekhyun holds his breath, starting to bounce on his heels a tiny bit.

And then a miracle happens.

“Thank god, she stopped crying.” Minseok sighs in relief, not even glancing back as he prepares the bottle warmer.

Baekhyun lets out the breath he was holding and peers down at Nari, her face red from all the screaming and her eyelashes full of tears. She leans her head on Baekhyun’s chest and he almost gasps in shock.

He doesn’t know why he is always so anxious around babies. He hasn’t ever thought about it but holding this tiny innocent human in his arms, his heart doesn’t pound with fear, it pounds with endearment. And despite this hectic situation, Baekhyun smiles softly as he watches her snuggle against his chest.

Who knew babies weren’t actually scary? Baekhyun sure didn’t. Until now at least.

Baekhyun is still consumed with worry for Chanyeol but right now, he enjoys this sweet moment. His first time holding Chanyeol’s daughter.

“I don’t know what happened last night but Chanyeol usually doesn’t neglect Nari like this.” Minseok says sadly, turning around with the now finished bottle in his hand. “I’ll take her back now. You’re a life saver.”

Baekhyun doesn’t know why exactly but he suddenly feels kind of disappointed that he has to hand her back.

Minseok notices the hesitation. “Unless you want to feed her? I just thought you’d want to go back out there with Sehun and Chanyeol.”

“Uh. I don’t know how.” Baekhyun admits, finally handing over the baby. “I’ll just go see what’s going on out there.”

“Okay. Thanks for the help.”

“You’re welcome.” Baekhyun smiles softly before exiting the kitchen to head to the living room.

The brunette finds that Sehun has given up on pounding Chanyeol with his fists and resorted to sitting next to him and trying to reason with him.

“Chanyeol. It’s been like ten minutes and you still haven’t said a word or looked at me or even flinched. I’m sorry for being so harsh but Nari is your baby girl, you know that neglecting her is the biggest mistake you could’ve made. Please just talk. What’s wrong?”

Baekhyun stands awkwardly to the side. He watches the scene with a heavy heart. Sehun notices him and his eyes light up in relief.

“Baekhyun! Please try to get him to talk.” Sehun stands up and drags the smaller to the couch. “I’m begging you.”

“A-Alright. I’ll try.” Baekhyun stumbles before sitting down next to Chanyeol warily.

“Chanyeol,” he starts quietly, resting his hand on Chanyeol’s knee. “You need to tell us what’s going on so we can help you.”

Everything is silent for a moment before Chanyeol lifts his head off of the back of the couch, turning to look at Baekhyun’s face. He then turns to Sehun.

“I-I’m really sorry.” Chanyeol whispers weakly, his voice hoarse. Tears fill his eyes. “Is she okay? Is my baby okay? I-I didn’t mean to. I swear I didn’t.”

Sehun bites his lip in an attempt to keep his emotions in check. He hasn’t ever seen Chanyeol so broken before and it is ripping up his heart.

Chanyeol turns back to Baekhyun, his tears now freely cascading down his cheeks. “I-I’m sorry. I took our relationship for granted and I lied to you. I don’t have an excuse. I’m just so sorry.”

Baekhyun frowns sympathetically and leans forward to hug the taller. “Let’s talk about that later, okay? Tell us what happened to you.”

Chanyeol lets out a choked sob upon feeling Baekhyun’s embrace, leaving his hands on his lap but setting his head down on Baekhyun’s shoulder.

Baekhyun strokes Chanyeol’s back as he hugs him tightly, his heart breaking impossibly more as Chanyeol confesses almost inaudibly,

“My father had a stroke a-and they couldn’t save him. He’s gone.”


	17. 16

It has been nearly two weeks since the passing of Chanyeol's father. The day after his mother showed up unannounced and informed him of the news, the grieving male decided it was best to take a personal leave of absence from work for thirty days.

Of course, since Baekhyun doesn't know any of Chanyeol's family, he was not invited to the funeral. Honestly, he wasn't upset about that. A little part of Baekhyun wishes that he could've been there for Chanyeol but a bigger part of him was relieved when he wasn't invited because he doesn't do well with death. Then again, he doesn't know of anyone who does do well with death.

The first time Chanyeol and Baekhyun actually converse with each other is on a Sunday, a week and six days after the tragedy.

Baekhyun yawns and stretches as he climbs out of bed, trying to talk himself out of the jog he promised himself last night he'd take. He shakes his head, telling himself that he'll jog next Sunday morning and begins his morning routine: take a shower, change his clothes, eat breakfast, and take his medicine.

Baekhyun almost hurtles out of the shower when he hears his phone ringing from his room. He's been anxiously waiting for someone to update him on Chanyeol's condition, whether that be Sehun or Chanyeol himself. Conditioner still lathered into his brunette locks, he grabs his towel and quickly wraps it around his waist before hurriedly stalking into his room to see who is calling.

His eyes widen and he doesn't think he has ever picked up the phone faster.

"Hello? Chanyeol?"

"This is Sehun."

Baekhyun's heart jumps into his throat. "I-Is everything alright? Why are you calling from Chanyeol's phone?"

"Uh, well, I suppose it's as good as it can be when you lose a family member. I'm calling for him right now because he has got his hands full with a fussy baby." Sehun explains.

Baekhyun breathes out heavily, relief pushing his heart back down into its rightful place. "You scared me."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," Sehun falters. "I am about to take Nari for a couple hours and Chanyeol wants to know if you can come over to his place for breakfast and talk some things out with him."

"Well he's going to have to wait a little while, I have soap in my hair. I got out of the shower to answer this call." Baekhyun chuckles a little.

"Alright, I'll let him know," Sehun says, then softer, "Just between you and me, I thank you for not ending things right away when you found out about Nari. That was very mature of you, Baekhyun."

Baekhyun grows flustered at the compliment. "You don't have to thank me, I just want to have a chance to sort everything out before I decide where our relationship stands."

"Well I still want to thank you. Chanyeol is a complete idiot for not telling you about such a huge thing but I just think he didn't realize how detrimental it is to inform someone that you have a child. He has just recently grown up and started acting like an adult because of the baby, you know."

"I'll talk with him, Sehun. I want an explanation. Now I gotta finish my shower, thank you for calling."

Sehun's voice becomes a bit more cheery. "It's not a problem. Goodbye!"

"Goodbye," Baekhyun finishes the call with a soft tone. He shivers due to the coldness and tosses his phone onto his mattress before heading back to the bathroom to finish his shower.

-

It isn't until Sehun is gone with the baby and Baekhyun is sitting at Chanyeol's kitchen table that the younger speaks. He peers at Chanyeol, who is cooking breakfast for them at the stove, and initiates a conversation.

"How are you doing?" Comes Baekhyun's gentle yet shaky voice.

Chanyeol hums out absentmindedly before answering. "I'm holding up. I took off a month from work because I can't seem to get my mind in the right place. I'm even struggling to get up and feed Nari in the mornings."

"I'm really sorry that this has happened," Baekhyun frowns, tilting his head down to stare at the wooden table in front of him.

"I am too but it's the circle of life, right?" Chanyeol forces a tiny smile as he turns to glance at the male. "Things happen that are out of our control sometimes."

"I'm glad that you are thinking like that. I was really worried about you because of your reaction when you found out. I was reluctant to go home that day when we found you here, I didn't know what you would do, but Sehun said he'd stay here with you so I felt a little more at peace."

Chanyeol nods and clears his throat. "Sorry but can you make sure this doesn't burn? I-I need a moment," he stumbles, his low voice cracking weakly as he points to the skillet on the burner.

"By all means. Take as much time as you need, I don't have anywhere to be." Baekhyun assures, standing up to walk closer to the stove to watch over the food.

Chanyeol exits the room and Baekhyun can clearly see the tall male wipe at his eyes before he disappears. The smaller's heart breaks at the sight.

One moment turns into five and when Chanyeol finally comes back into the room, Baekhyun immediately spots how red and puffy his eyes are. Baekhyun thinks that maybe he should try and distract Chanyeol, even if it is just for a little while.

"Sorry, my mind is kind of a mess." Chanyeol sniffles, freeing Baekhyun of his position at the stove.

"It's okay, I understand. Thank you for inviting me over and cooking me breakfast, I really appreciate it." Baekhyun smiles whilst sitting back down at the table.

"You're welcome," Chanyeol offers a small smile himself.

"You called me – actually Sehun did – to talk with you about, you know, us." Baekhyun starts, playing with his fingers as he talks. "But I am willing to wait longer if you aren't in the mood to talk about that. I just want you to feel better."

Chanyeol purses his lips tightly as he transfers the skillet to a burner that isn't turned on and turns the current one off. "No, Baekhyun. It's almost been a month since you found out everything and I am aching to finally talk to you about it. I need to do this today. Please?"

Baekhyun blinks at the sudden firm affirmation but he nods slowly anyways. "Alright, if you want to talk then I'm willing to do that too."

Momentarily forgetting about the food he just cooked, Chanyeol moves to sit across from Baekhyun at the table. The smaller looks to Chanyeol expectantly, not really sure how to start this conversation himself.

"Well, first off, I want to say that I apologize for being immature and selfish. I know now how wrong it was for me to lie to you and withhold pretty important information. I also know that it will probably be hard for you to fully forgive me but I can't help to selfishly want you to try."

"Chanyeol," Baekhyun starts. "I didn't come here for another apology. I want you to explain everything. I understand that you are sorry towards me but the only way I'm going to even think about giving you a second chance is if you tell me everything about this child, how was she conceived? Where is her mother? Am I just a rebound? I'm clueless and I've been asking myself so many questions. I want them answered. I'm just going to sit here and listen without interrupting so please, I want you to start from the beginning."

Chanyeol is quiet for a moment, deciding exactly where to start, then opens his mouth to tell his story.

"My mother and father hated the fact that their only son was gay. I told them that I liked guys when I was twenty because I couldn't stand hiding it anymore. Immediately, they started suggesting I go to a therapist or church or something to get those sinful thoughts out of my head. My father wasn't as bad as my mother but he still had a hard time accepting it. I suddenly felt unwanted for the first time in my life. It would've been more bearable if it was a friend or something but no, they were my parents. It felt awful. Because I was in college, Minseok and I were already friends so he let me stay at his place for a while. In fact, I stayed there until I had enough money to get my own small apartment.

I graduated when I was twenty two and got a job at our current firm shortly after. When I was twenty four, I met this guy through an old college buddy and we hit it off instantly. I was smitten. We dated for two years, and towards the end of our relationship he moved into my apartment. My mom was less than happy when she found out and started harassing me. Calling me, texting me, showing up at our doorstep. Constantly on my tail about it. She wouldn't stop. She kept pressing me to break up with him. She kept telling me to find a nice girl to get married to and have children. She told me I wouldn't get anywhere in life if people knew I was gay. Until one day, I snapped. I broke up with him because I couldn't handle my mom's continuous harassment. The day he moved out was full of tears and that night I stupidly decided to drink my body weight in alcohol at a bar." Chanyeol pauses and takes a deep breath, glancing up from his stare on the table to make sure Baekhyun is listening.

"I met a girl that night. She was as beautiful as I was drunk. Apparently, she wasn't the most sober person either. She started to flirt with me. In my hazy mind, I realized I had a perfect opportunity to show my parents that I was going to be successful in life. I was going to do what my mother told me to do because I couldn't handle feeling unwanted by my own blood. I wanted to be accepted, so I flirted back. After a couple more drinks and a lot more flirtatious attempts from the girl, we ended up in bed together. The next morning I woke up with a nasty hangover, regret, and an empty heart. I left before the girl even woke up.

A month later, when I was just starting to get over my breakup, that same girl shows up at my apartment. I was shocked to high heavens. How did she find me? I found out later that she went to high school with one of my college friends and they told her where I lived. Her name was Cha Eun. I thought she was after my money when she told me that she was pregnant. I thought she was lying to me. It's just my luck to become a father after the first one night stand in my entire life. When she was far enough along into her pregnancy, I got a DNA test done. The baby was mine.

I did the right thing, I took responsibility for my actions. My parents disowned me for conceiving a child out of wedlock. I realized that anything I did wouldn't make my parents proud of me. I started to feel better about myself because of that realization, even though it still hurt that my parents didn't want me. My lease was up so I moved in with Cha Eun and her parents. By her fifth month of pregnancy, I had saved enough money to buy this penthouse. We didn't love each other, so she decided it was best if we didn't get married, which is what her parents wanted. They eventually accepted the fact that we had no desire to marry one another. She became a good friend to me. We made arrangements for her to move in with me after the baby was born.

I was ready to become a father. At least I was as ready as I could be. We were set to have a baby girl and she was to take my surname. Park Nari. I became excited about her arrival because I wanted to be a better parent than my parents ever were to me. Even though it wasn't an ideal situation, with me being gay and not in love with Cha Eun, I couldn't find it in myself to be truly unhappy. Cha Eun was good to me as a friend, a mother of my child, but nothing more. I felt content with that. Nari was born in June. Her birth was rough. I never knew how much I sympathized with pain until Cha Eun went into labor. It was definitely an experience." Chanyeol pauses for the second time, his eyes clouding with an emotion that Baekhyun can't seem to decipher.

"As I held my baby girl for the first time, I finally understood what it meant to love someone unconditionally. I felt so much love in my body while looking at her face for the first time. I was proud.

When Cha Eun fell asleep and they took Nari to be cleaned up, I wondered how a parent could disown a child like my parents did with me. I had only seen my baby for a handful of minutes and knew that I would never treat her how my parents treated me. I would love her, support her, try and be the best for her.

Cha Eun got in a car accident a few days after Nari's birth. She had asked me to take Nari home while the doctors had her stay back for a while to do some tests. I didn't want to take her alone but she kept asking me so I didn't want to make her upset. I think she just wanted a little break from Nari before she would have to be with her twenty four seven. Cha Eun took a taxi, but a man had a stroke while driving and crashed into the taxi that she was in. She passed away. I’ve been taking care of Nari with Minseok and Sehun’s help but it is really difficult sometimes because I don’t know how to be a mother and a father at the same time. My mother refused to see Nari, so I couldn’t ask her to help with Nari either.

I met you at the end of August. You were a breath of fresh air. Because of you, everything that happened seemed to not bother me as much. I finally felt happy again. This isn’t an excuse for lying to you about my child, but I felt insecure. I didn’t know what would happen if I told you. I didn’t want to lose you. I realize now how stupid it was. Minseok was the one who made me realize it. He mentioned how irresponsible I’ve been with Nari, always going out with you and working while leaving him to take care of her. The day that you found out you had to get new medicine, was the day I promised myself that I will be more responsible. With you, with my child, with myself even. I know asking you to stay with me is probably the most selfish thing I could ever ask but I want to promise to you that there will be no more secrets. No more lies. I’ve fallen in love with you. You trusted me with the news of your schizophrenia and I hurt you in the worst way possible. I don’t want to hurt you ever again.

That’s my story. I’m not telling you this for pity, I just wanted to tell you the truth. And I want you to be honest with me. Tell me if you’ll stay by my side or not, and I won’t blame you one bit if you won’t. Don’t hold back just because I’ve had a bad couple of weeks.”

Baekhyun takes a minute to soak up all of this newfound information, tears in his eyes. His bottom lip starts trembling a little bit so he bites down on it while looking at Chanyeol’s worn out face. When all of his thoughts come together, he talks.

“It’s going to take awhile for me to fully forgive you. I’m still upset,” Baekhyun’s tongue darts out to wet his lips before he continues. “I-I believe in second chances though. I’ve fallen in love with you too, something I never thought I’d be able to do. I’m honestly not even sure what love is but I know that I love you. I don’t want to lose you either over a mistake.”

Chanyeol wasn’t expecting those words, his eyes showcasing pure shock. Baekhyun continues.

“Your story is heartbreaking, but that isn’t the main reason why I want to give you a second chance. You know what is? You were patient with me when I wasn’t on my medication. You didn’t ever have ridicule in your eyes. You were with me every step of the way, at work, at my apartment. You stayed with me through it all and even had a hard time but you kept smiling at me and telling me that it was going to be okay. You _stayed_. That proved to me that you made a big mistake. Everyone makes them. I’m not completely okay with it but in time, I know I’ll be able to forgive and forget. So, I want to stay too. I want to stay with you.” Baekhyun lets out, a few tears making their way down his cheeks.

Chanyeol can feel himself tearing up too at the utmost sincerity in Baekhyun’s words. “Thank you, Baekhyun. I promise that you won’t regret this decision. I’m going to be more responsible. I won’t ever hurt you like this again. Thank you for giving me a second chance.”

Baekhyun smiles through his tears and stands up, which prompts Chanyeol to do so as well, and they hug. Tighter than they ever have before.


	18. 17

**{A/N: I'm sorry to anyone who is expecting smut in this story, I just feel that it doesn't fit very well with the story line but I hope you understand that I will be skipping the smut part! Also, this is the ending chapter, thank you guys so, so much for your love and support on this story!}**

A body latches itself onto Chanyeol's torso as soon as he opens his apartment door, having heard knocks on it just a few seconds ago. He chuckles at the behavior of the person but returns the hug with a smile.

"I missed you." Baekhyun mutters into Chanyeol's firm chest, burying his face in the fabric of the taller's shirt.

"You did?" Chanyeol teases, bringing a hand up to stroke the back of Baekhyun's head. He starts swaying their hugging bodies a little after finally shutting the apartment door.

"Mhm. A lot." Baekhyun continues into Chanyeol's chest, his arms wrapped securely around the guy's waist.

"We saw each other four days ago."

"That's too long!" Baekhyun whines, pulling back from the embrace just enough to tilt his head up and look into Chanyeol's eyes. "If it weren't for that dumb, overtime-requirement-loving Zhang Yixing then I could've seen you earlier. I hate that he makes us work overtime once every two months!"

Chanyeol chuckles again and smiles fondly at the small male in his arms. "You get paid extra though."

Baekhyun frowns and looks away. "Yeah, I guess I don't mind getting paid extra."

"Silly goose." Chanyeol leans down to plant a kiss on Baekhyun's forehead. "It's a Thursday night and you came here? It's almost nine. Did you come straight after work? Have you eaten?"

"Wow, slow down a bit," Baekhyun laughs, slowly unraveling his arms from Chanyeol's body and taking a step back. "I ate some soup and a piece of toast at the firm and yes I came straight after work. I don't have work tomorrow and neither do you so I wanted to come over and stay the night."

"You're going to stay the night?" Chanyeol asks, borderline surprised. "Like..here?"

"Uh," Baekhyun blinks a few times. "Is that a problem? You know what, you're right. I should've asked. I'm sorry."

"No, no! That's not it." Chanyeol shakes his head. "You can stay whenever you want! It's just – well – babies are supposed to sleep in their parent's rooms until they're six months old and Nari just turned six months old. She started sleeping in her nursery yesterday."

"I don't really understand why that's an issue," Baekhyun comments, his face crinkled with confusion.

"I guess I just don't know how comfortable you'd be with sleeping in my bed with me, especially since this is only the second time we're seeing each other since you decided to give me another chance." Chanyeol clarifies.

"It's okay. I won't be uncomfortable." Baekhyun flashes a small, reassuring grin.

"Okay, just making sure." Chanyeol smiles back.

"Where is Nari, by the way?" Baekhyun asks, following behind Chanyeol as he starts down the hallway.

"I just put her down to sleep about twenty minutes ago. She usually goes to sleep for the night around eight thirty." Chanyeol explains, leading Baekhyun into his living room.

Baekhyun takes a quick glance around the room; baby toys strewn across the floor, the only light a lamp on the end table, and the tv buzzing softly in the background. Chanyeol moves the newspapers he was previously flipping through from the couch to the coffee table and pats a spot on the cushion next to him as he sits down. Baekhyun smiles softly and moves to sit down beside him.

Chanyeol wraps his arm around Baekhyun's waist and pulls him closer, the smaller snuggling his head into the crook of Chanyeol's neck. They sit in a comfortable silence for a while, watching the show that is playing on tv, before Baekhyun starts up another conversation.

"When are you coming back to work?" Baekhyun asks quietly, sitting up slightly and turning his head to look at Chanyeol.

"My leave of absence ends in about a week and a half."

"Oh," Baekhyun nods, then hesitates. "Uh, so, how are you doing? I know that's a stupid question considering what has happened with your father but I'd just like to let you know that if there is anything you need to get off your chest, don't hesitate to talk to me. Seriously. Losing a family member is hard. I don't want you to feel like you're alone during this time of grieving."

Chanyeol gives Baekhyun a small kiss on the lips then a smile filled with gratitude. "Thank you. It's only been four days since you were here last, when I was a mess, but I'm doing better each day. I've come to terms with the fact that he's gone. It's hard, but I think I'm getting through."

"I'm glad to hear that."

"Thank you, again, for granting me a second chance Sunday. I promise you won't regret this." Chanyeol says firmly, a serious glint in his eyes.

Baekhyun nods. "I'm counting on that."

They return to their cuddling position and to the show that is still playing on tv. This time, it's only a couple minutes of silence between the two before Baekhyun starts talking again.

"Hey, Chanyeol?" He calls out softly, continuing to face the tv screen.

"Hm?"

"Well, uh, we've been dating, more or less, for about three months now."

Chanyeol hums. "Yeah, we have."

"Can we t...?" Baekhyun mumbles, the end of his question turning into an inaudible whisper. Chanyeol shifts to sit up a little and lean closer to Baekhyun, who is hiding his face by staring downwards.

The tall guy notices a faint blush dusted across Baekhyun's cheeks, traveling up to his ears. "I'm sorry, what did you say? I didn't hear it all. Can we what?"

"I said," Baekhyun pauses for a quick second, tilting his head even further down. "Can we...take a shower together?" He whispers. "I've been wanting to – take a shower with you."

Chanyeol blinks a couple times as he processes the not-so-subtle meaning behind Baekhyun's words. He definitely doesn't want to cross any lines by misinterpreting anything so he asks, "Just a shower? Or...are you implying something else?"

Baekhyun doesn't dare lift his head as he boldly speaks. "I'm implying that something else for before our shower. I don't really want to have my first time in a bathroom."

"Wait, f-first time?" Chanyeol stutters, turning Baekhyun to face him. "Are you being serious?"

"I haven't trusted anyone enough," Baekhyun explains, slowly making eye contact with his blush still taking over his face. "But just because I'm a twenty-five year old virgin, it doesn't mean that I don't want to..you know..have sex."

"I'm sorry, Baek."

"Sorry? For what?"

"I don't want to have sex with you."

Baekhyun's heart drops and he swallows thickly. "Oh. Okay. Can I ask wh- ?"

"I want to make love with you. If you'll let me, that is."

Baekhyun's blush darkens and he tries to fight a small smile, becoming flustered at Chanyeol's words. "D-Don't scare me like that!"

Chanyeol chuckles and leans forward to kiss Baekhyun's red cheek. "You're so cute."

"Should we move into your bedroom?"

"I mean, yeah, but we don't have to rush," Chanyeol laughs. "Eager much?"

"Uh, yes? Hello? I'm a twenty-five year old who has never been with somebody intimately. Wouldn't you be eager?" Baekhyun sasses.

"Hm, I guess I would be." Chanyeol smiles brightly and stands up. "Okay, but just know one thing before we go in my room."

"What is it?"

"I'm eager too!" Chanyeol exclaims quickly before turning on his heels and sprinting out of the room.

"Hey! Wait up!" Baekhyun calls, running after him. "Chanyeol!"

The smaller hears deep laughter from down the hallway and he heads towards it, only to shout in surprise when he is unexpectedly scooped up into Chanyeol's arms.

"You snuck into my room!" Chanyeol accuses.

"Only because you ran off like some sort of lunatic!" Baekhyun fires back. "Now put me down, Park Chanyeol."

Instead of putting the shorter down, Chanyeol decides to just kiss him as a substitute. Baekhyun gasps a little but doesn't hesitate to kiss back.

Chanyeol smiles into their kisses while closing his bedroom door with his foot and walking towards his bed.

-

"You raided my dressers," Chanyeol teases as Baekhyun walks into the kitchen – oversized shirt, boxers, bed head, and all. "But I must say, Mr. Byun, you look ravishing."

"Good morning, Nari!" Baekhyun coos while sitting down at the table next to her high chair. "What are you eating? Bananas? Mm. Yummy."

"Hey! I'm over here!" Chanyeol pouts from his place at the stove, waving his spatula around. "Are you really ignoring the guy who is cooking you breakfast?"

"Nari, did you hear something?" Baekhyun asks while looking around the room blankly.

The baby girl just gurgles while shoving a fist of mushed bananas into her mouth.

"Hm, I didn't hear anything either." Baekhyun shrugs.

Chanyeol makes a horrid sound of defeat before turning back around and resuming his task. Baekhyun giggles and stands up, tiptoeing silently to his tall boyfriend before wrapping his arms around him from behind. "Good morning, Yeol."

"Good morning, baby." Chanyeol greets happily. "Sleep good?"

"When you finally let me sleep, yes. I slept great." Baekhyun releases his back hug.

"What ever do you mean? We were asleep by at least one!" Chanyeol gasps dramatically.

"No we weren't! We just got in the shower at one, after our pre-shower time." Baekhyun purses his lips.

Chanyeol laughs. "Pre-shower time?"

"That's what I said."

"You're hopelessly adorable." Chanyeol turns to give him a quick peck on the lips. He takes an obvious glance towards Baekhyun's bare legs. "But you might want to wear long pants when Sehun comes over later."

Baekhyun tilts his head in confusion before glancing down at his legs, his eyes widening upon seeing the light purple love marks on his thighs. "Oh my god, I was so smart to tell you to do it somewhere where I can cover up."

"Smart you were," Chanyeol winks. "Breakfast is almost ready."

Later that day, around lunch time, Chanyeol stands in the living room while bouncing Nari a little.

"Would you like to hold her?" Chanyeol asks knowingly after the third time that Baekhyun has cleared his throat.

Baekhyun's eyes widen a little. "Uh well, not really, but if you need me to I will."

Chanyeol chuckles. "I know you told me Sunday that you have always been afraid of babies but I promise you, she isn't going to bite. Well she might but it won't hurt, she hasn't started teething yet."

"Gee, thanks." Baekhyun quips sarcastically.

"Minseok told me you held her." Chanyeol reveals.

"He did?"

Chanyeol nods, extending Nari out to Baekhyun. "I want to see you hold her."

"Is this some sort of test?"

"No, no. I just want to see the person I love bonding with my baby, you know?" Chanyeol grins sweetly.

Baekhyun sighs shakily and nods, reaching out to accept Nari from Chanyeol. Chanyeol's smile grows wider as he steps towards the couch to hand Baekhyun his baby girl.

"You've done this once before so no need to freak out, Baekhyun." The small brunette whispers to himself but Chanyeol hears it and chuckles.

"You're doing great."

"I-I am?" Baekhyun holds the baby in front of him stiffly, his whole body tense and his fingers tightly wrapped around her small body.

"Of course!"

"Is she h-having fun?" Baekhyun stumbles, slowly becoming more worried.

"She's having the time of her life, don't worry." Chanyeol reassures, pushing back a smile. He moves to sit next to the pair on the couch and Baekhyun seems to tense up even more.

"Oh no, I'm doing this wrong, aren't I?" Baekhyun frowns.

"No you aren't, she likes you." Chanyeol says honestly, watching Nari and Baekhyun with fond eyes. "Do you want to feed her?"

"N-No that's oka- "

Before Baekhyun can even finish his sentence, Chanyeol is exiting the living room and coming back seconds later with a bottle in his hands. A pit of anxiousness forms in Baekhyun's stomach and he swallows roughly.

"Don't be nervous, I'll be right here. I'm going to teach you how to feed her a bottle." Chanyeol speaks gently, kneeling down in front of the two.

Baekhyun nods. "O-Okay. I want to try."

"First off, move your arm like this," Chanyeol reaches out and tugs on Baekhyun's arm so it will move behind Nari's neck. "Make sure her head is secured on your arm."

Baekhyun nods and allows Chanyeol to move his other arm to lock her body in place on his lap.

"Then you just hold the bottle to her lips so she can drink it." Chanyeol smiles in satisfaction whilst handing Baekhyun the baby bottle. "But be careful not to tip the bottle too high or she might choke on the amount of milk."

Once Nari starts eating, Chanyeol swears nothing in the world is better than the loving smile that splays across Baekhyun's lips as he feeds her.

-

Chanyeol had fallen fast asleep at least an hour ago but Baekhyun lays awake, the moonlight streaming into the dark room through the blinds. Everything is silent as Baekhyun stares at the ceiling, the only sound in the room coming from the clock ticking in a steady rhythm on Chanyeol's bedroom wall.

Giving up on sleep, Baekhyun sighs and crawls out of bed, quietly making his way out of the room and tiptoeing down the dimly lit hallway. He heads into the kitchen for a glass of something to drink and possibly a late night snack, he is sure Chanyeol won't mind.

Baekhyun hums a hushed tune as he rummages through all of Chanyeol's cupboards, attempting to find a suitable snack that fits his late night tastes.

"Cookies and milk will have to do." Baekhyun whispers to himself, pulling out a package of chocolate chip cookies that he found in one of the cabinets.

After fixing a plate full of cookies and pouring a glass of whole milk, he sits down at the table and starts digging in.

It's on his third cookie that he is startled by a shrill cry and the sweet treat falls into the milk that he was dipping it into when he flinches. He groans a little at the loss of cookie but decides to go check on Nari so Chanyeol can sleep.

He hurriedly walks down the hallway to Nari's room, pushing the cracked door open all the way to find the crying baby sitting up in her crib.

"Aw, Nari? What's wrong?" Baekhyun croons, walking further into the room.

Despite his earlier hesitations about holding a baby, he bends over the crib to pick her up. As if it’s a second nature, Baekhyun rocks her a little and shushes her gently while pulling her close to his chest. "It's okay, you don't have to cry. I know I'm not Chanyeol but you like me too, right?”

Nari continues to cry.

“Shh, you’ll wake your daddy up.” Baekhyun pleads. “Please stop crying.”

After a bit more rocking, Nari’s cries quiet down to soft whimpers and she buries her face into Baekhyun’s chest. His heart swells and he smiles, continuing to rock her.

“Maybe I should sing you a song?” Baekhyun whispers. “Will that help you go back to sleep, baby?”

The small male starts singing a soft lullaby that his mother used to sing to him when he was a child. He eventually ends up sitting in the cushioned rocking chair in the far corner of the room with Nari and a blanket, singing to her quietly as he rocks the chair slowly.

He loses track of time while he sings, and Nari is totally asleep by now, but he enjoys this time he is spending with her so he keeps singing for a bit longer. Closing his tired eyes, his singing turns into humming as he continues to hold the sleeping baby against his chest and rocks.

The small brunette never notices the tall guy standing in the doorway, witnessing the whole scene with love bursting throughout his body, thinking to himself that Baekhyun and Nari are going to get along just fine.

Chanyeol whispers a small, “I love you two,” with an adoring grin before leaving them be and going back to bed, his heart content.

 

  
\- END -


End file.
